20 - Fuels Flashcards
(72 cards)
What are natural gas and crude oil formed from?
Ancient remains of microscopic animals and plants that once lived in the sea
What is a Finite resource?
Something useful that is no longer made or which is being made very slowly
How are natural gas and crude oil formed?
- The remains of animals and plants become covered by layers of sediment
- Over millions of years, the remains gradually turn into natural gas and crude oil
- Sediment turns into rock, trapping the gas and oil
What is Crude oil?
A complex mixture of hydrocarbons formed from dead microscopic organisms (by heat & pressure) over millions of years
What is a Hydrocarbon?
A compound that contains hydrogen and carbon atoms ONLY
How many bonds can each carbon atom form?
And what type of bonds are these?
4
Covalent bonds
How many carbon atoms can there be in a hydrocarbon molecule?
It can vary from one to many hundreds of them
What state is Crude oil at room temperature?
Liquid
What are some uses of crude oil?
- Fuels for aircraft, vehicles, heating & power stations
- Feedstock
- Raw chemicals for the petrochemical industry
What are petrochemicals?
Substances made from crude oil such as polyethene & other polymers
What is Natural gas?
A mixture of Hydrocarbons in the gas state formed from the remains of dead plants and animals that lived in the sea
What is the main hydrocarbon in Natural gas?
Methane
What is Methane useful for?
Cooking
What is the definition of Non-renewable?
Any energy resource that will run out because you cannot renew your supply of it
e.g. Oil
Why can Crude oil be separated using fractional distillation?
The different hydrocarbons have different boiling points
What is Fractional distillation?
A method of separating a mixture with different boiling points to individual components (fractions)
What is a Fractionating column?
A long column used for Fractional distillation.
Its warmer at the bottom & colder at the top
Label the fractionating column
What is the acronym you can use to remember the fractionating column order?
Bald fuming dwarves killed Patricia’s gerbils
Describe the temperatures in the fractionating column
Column is hottest at the top and coldest at the bottom
Describe how crude oil is separated into different fractions
- Vapours rise through the column & cools down
- Vapours condense when they reach a part of a column that is below their bp
- Liquid falls into a tray & is piped away
What fraction has the highest boiling point?
Bitumen
What fraction has the lowest boiling point?
Gases
Which fraction has the highest num of atoms in molecules?
Bitumen