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Hydrocarbons

  • 7 subtopics
  • 21 things to know
  • Papers 1 and 3

What Hydrocarbons covers

Hydrocarbons is examined on Papers 2 and 3. It covers the alkanes from crude oil through cracking and combustion, the free radical mechanism of chlorination, then the alkenes, their electrophilic addition reactions and the polymers made from them.

Where it is assessed

Papers 1 and 3

Inorganic and physical chemistry, then the synoptic paper.

Check the AQA specification ↗

The 7 subtopics

Each one has its own page. AQA AS Chemistry students sit this topic in the first year.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Give three possible termination reactions in the chlorination of methane.

Key term

Name the three reagents that add across the C=C double bond of an alkene by electrophilic addition.

Key term

What does it mean for a hydrocarbon to be saturated?

Key term

What is petroleum?

Key term

What are the two types of combustion that alkanes and other organic compounds can undergo?

Key term

What products are formed during complete combustion of an alkane?

Process

What type of mechanism is the chlorination of methane?

Key term

What does the term "unsaturated" mean when describing alkenes?

Key term

What does Markovnikov's rule predict about the addition of HBr to an unsymmetrical alkene?

Who and when

In the addition of HBr to propene, which carbon atom does the hydrogen atom bond to according to Markovnikov's rule?

Key term

What type of monomer is used to form addition polymers?

Key term

What structural feature must a monomer possess to undergo addition polymerisation?

Key term

Why are addition polymers chemically unreactive?

Key term

What structural feature of polyalkenes makes them resistant to chemical attack?

Key term

What property of the components allows fractional distillation to separate them?

Key term

What products can be formed during incomplete combustion of an alkane?

Process

What are the three stages of the free radical substitution mechanism?

Key term

What type of covalent bond is present in alkenes?

Key term

What is a carbocation?

Key term

How is the repeating unit of an addition polymer related to the monomer?

Key term

How does the saturated carbon backbone of addition polymers contribute to their stability?

Take Hydrocarbons further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • An alkane vs An alkene

    An alkane: a saturated hydrocarbon containing only single carbon-carbon bonds. An alkene: an unsaturated hydrocarbon containing at least one carbon-carbon double bond.

  • Free radical substitution vs Electrophilic addition

    Free radical substitution: the mechanism by which ultraviolet light drives the chlorination of an alkane. Electrophilic addition: the mechanism by which a double bond is opened by an electron-deficient species.

  • Thermal cracking vs Catalytic cracking

    Thermal cracking: breaking long chains at high temperature and pressure, giving a high proportion of alkenes. Catalytic cracking: breaking them over a zeolite at lower temperature, giving branched and aromatic products.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What type of hydrocarbons are alkanes?

    Model answer

    Saturated hydrocarbons

  2. 2

    What does it mean for a hydrocarbon to be saturated?

    Model answer

    The hydrocarbon contains only single carbon-carbon bonds (no double or triple bonds)

  3. 3

    What is petroleum?

    Model answer

    A mixture that is predominantly alkane hydrocarbons

  4. 4

    What is the main type of hydrocarbon found in petroleum?

    Model answer

    Alkanes

  5. 5

    What process is used to separate the components of petroleum?

    Model answer

    Fractional distillation

  6. 6

    What property of the components allows fractional distillation to separate them?

    Model answer

    Different boiling points

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Hydrocarbons revision questions

Is Hydrocarbons examined at AS in AQA Chemistry?
Yes. It sits in Papers 1 and 3, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
What does Hydrocarbons cover in AQA AS-Level Chemistry?
7 subtopics: alkanes, fractional distillation and cracking, combustion of alkanes and pollutants, free radical chlorination of alkanes, alkenes: structure, bonding and electrophilic addition, markovnikov's rule and carbocation stability, addition polymers and repeating units and properties and uses of polyalkenes. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Hydrocarbons organised?
By the AQA 7405 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

Every question in Hydrocarbons, on a schedule.

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