Hydrocarbon

Ball-and-stick model of the methane molecule, CH4. Methane is part of a homologous series known as the alkanes, which contain single bonds only.

A hydrocarbon, in organic chemistry, is a compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or exemplified by the odors of gasoline and lighter fluid. In the fossil fuel industries, hydrocarbon refers to the naturally occurring petroleum, natural gas and coal, and to their hydrocarbon derivatives and purified forms. Combustion of hydrocarbons is the main source of the world's energy. Petroleum is the dominant raw-material source for organic commodity chemicals, such as solvents and polymers.

See also

• Fire
• Fuel
• Oil
• Petroleum

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Ceramic, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).