Key Stage 4
Meaning
A hydrocarbon is a chemical compound containing only carbon and hydrogen atoms.
About Hydrocarbons
- Carbon atoms are able to form long chain molecules so there are very large number of hydrocarbon molecules.
Hydrocarbons can be split into two groups:
- Alkanes - Which have only single bonds between Carbon atoms.
- Alkenes - Which have one or more double bonds between Carbon atoms.
Small hydrocarbon molecules are given names based on the number of Carbon atoms they contain:
- Meth - 1 Carbon (Methane)
- Eth - 2 Carbon (Ethane and Ethene)
- Prop - 3 Carbon (Propane and Propene)
- But - 4 Carbon (Butane and Butene)
- Pent - 5 Carbon (Pentane and Pentene)
- Hex - 6 Carbon (Hexane and Hexene)
- Crude Oil is a mixture of hundreds of different hydrocarbon molecules.