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.

Several different classes of hydrocarbons exist, exhibiting different chemical and physical properties. The two main classes include aliphatic (single or branched chains), as well as aromatic compounds, having a ring or loop present.

Further, different lengths of hydrocarbons exhibit different physical properties, especially in both energy density or boiling point. These different hydrocarbon chains are used for different purposes, including different types of fuel (diesel, gasoline, parafin), as well as building (bitumen for asphalt). The seperation of these hydrocarbon chains from crude oil is done via fractional distillation, with the different 'fractions' seperated generally containing similar length hydrocarbons.

Dependencies

• Carbon
• Hydrogen
  • Hydrocarbon

See also

• Fire
• Fuel
• Methane
• Oil
• Petroleum

References

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