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Organic Chemistry

Crude oil, hydrocarbons and alkanes

  • 3 things to know
  • Chemistry Paper 2

Overview

Crude oil as a finite resource formed from ancient plankton, hydrocarbons and why crude oil is a mixture, the alkanes and their general formula CₙH₂ₙ₊₂, the molecular formulae of methane, ethane, propane and butane, and what molecular and displayed formulae show.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is crude oil formed from?

Key term

Where is crude oil found today?

Key term

What is a hydrocarbon?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is crude oil formed from?

    Model answer

    Crude oil formed from the remains of an ancient biomass, mainly plankton, that was buried in mud.

  2. 2

    Where is crude oil found today?

    Model answer

    Crude oil is found trapped in rocks underground.

  3. 3

    Explain why crude oil is described as a finite resource.

    Model answer

    It took many millions of years to form and is being used far faster than it is replaced, so supplies will eventually run out.

  4. 4

    Which organisms made up most of the ancient biomass that became crude oil?

    Model answer

    Plankton.

  5. 5

    What is a hydrocarbon?

    Model answer

    A hydrocarbon is a molecule made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms only.

  6. 6

    Explain why crude oil is classed as a mixture and not as a compound.

    Model answer

    It contains a very large number of different compounds that are not chemically bonded to one another.

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