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GCSE chemistry > Fuels and Health Science > Flashcards

Fuels and Health Science Flashcards

(52 cards)

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1
Q

What are hydrocarbons?

A

Compounds that contain hydrogen and carbon atoms only

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2
Q

What is crude oil?

A

A complex mixture of hydrocarbons, contains molecules with rings or chains of carbon atoms, an important source of useful substances and finite resource

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3
Q

Where can crude oil be found?

A

Under sea and ground

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4
Q

What does finite mean?

A

It will to run out

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5
Q

How can crude oil be separated?

A

Fractional distillation

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6
Q

How does the process of fractional distillation work to separate crude oil?

A

Crude oil is vaporised before it enters a fractionating column, the fractionating column is hotter at the bottom than at the top, the vapours rise up and condense at different fractions depending on their boiling points and hydrocarbons with low boiling points will be tapped off the top of the column and hydrocarbons with high boiling points will be tapped off the bottom of the column

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7
Q

Why is crude oil separated?

A

Unseparated crude oil isn’t very useful but the separation product are very useful

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8
Q

What are refinery gas common uses?

A

Heating and cooking

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9
Q

Which fraction of crude oil is used as fuel in cars?

A

Petrol and diesel is also less commonly used

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10
Q

What is a common use of kerosene?

A

Aircraft fuel

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11
Q

What is diesel oil commonly used for?

A

Fuel for some cars and trains

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12
Q

Which fraction of crude oil is used for road surfacing and roofs?

A

Bitumen

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13
Q

What is fuel oil commonly used for?

A

Fuel for large ships and in some power stations

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14
Q

How do the hydrocarbons at each faction differ?

A

Boiling points, ease of ignition, viscosity and the number of hydrogen and carbon atoms their molecules have

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15
Q

Where in the fractionating column do hydrocarbons with highest viscosity condense?

A

Viscosity is how thick and sticky a substance is, the hydrocarbons with the highest viscosity are collected at the bottom of the fractionating column

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16
Q

What properties of hydrocarbons that are tapped from the top of the fractionating column?

A

Low boiling point, highly volatile, easily ignited and shorter carbon chains

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17
Q

What is a homologous series?

A

Series of compounds which: have the same general formula, similar chemical properties, differ by CH2 in molecular formula form neighbouring molecules and slight variation in physical properties

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18
Q

Which homologous series do products from crude oil mostly belong to?

A

Alkane homologous series

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19
Q

What are the only products when a hydrocarbon fuel undergoes complete combustion?

A

Water and carbon dioxide

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20
Q

Is energy given out when a fuel undergoes complete combustion?

A

Yes the reaction is exothermic

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21
Q

When does incomplete combustion occur?

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A

There is an insufficient supply of oxygen and to ensure complete combustion occurs the reaction should be carried out with excess oxygen

22
Q

What are the products of incomplete combustion?

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A

Carbon particulate (soot), carbon monoxide and water

23
Q

What are the problems with carbon monoxide?

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A

Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, it is colourless and odourless and if breathed in can cause death by preventing the red blood cells from carrying oxygen around the body

24
Q

What are the problems with incomplete combustion?

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A

Produces carbon monoxide which is toxic and can be fatal if breathed in and produces carbon particulates which cause globa dimming and respiratory problems

25
Why is sulfur dioxide sometimes produced when burning hydrocarbon fuels?
Some hydrocarbons fuels contain sulfur impurities, when the fuel is burned, the sulfur reacts with oxygen to form sulfur dioxide
26
How is acid rain produced?
Sulfur dioxide evaporates into the air, it reacts with water in the clouds to form sulfuric acid
27
What problems can acid rain cause?
Corrodes buildings and statues made of limestone, kills/damaged the vegetation and lowers the pH of large bodies of water killing the wildlife
28
How are oxides of nitrogen produced from car engines?
The high temperature and pressure of a car engine causes nitrogen and oxygen from the air to react together
29
What problems are associated with oxides of nitrogen?
Pollutants, produce acid rain with similar effects as SO2 and cause respiratory problems
30
What are the advantages of using hydrogen as a fuel in cars?
It releases more energy per kg compared most other fuels, water is the only product so no pollutants and renewable source
31
What are the disadvantages of using hydrogen as a fuel in cars?
It’s expensive to produce and a lot of energy is required for the electrolysis of water to acquire the hydrogen and is difficult and dangerous to store hydrogen because it’s very volatile and easily ignites
32
What a name of the non-renewable fossil fuel found in natural gas?
Methane
33
Are petrol, kerosene and diesel renewable fuels?
No, they are finite resources which aren’t being readily replaced
34
What is cracking?
Breaking down large hydrocarbons into smaller more useful ones and saturated alkanes and short chain unsaturated alkenes
35
What do the therms saturated and unsaturated mean?
Saturated: only contains single bonds and Unsaturated: contains some C=C double bonds
36
What type of reaction is cracking?
Thermal decomposition
37
Why is cracking necessary?
The demand for shorter chain alkenes and alkanes is much greater than the demand for long chain alkanes
38
What produced the gases that formed Earths early atmosphere?
Volcanic activity
39
How did Earths early atmosphere form?
The Earths surface was molten with no atmosphere, cooling caused land masses to solidify and volcanoes formed on the land masses and released gases which formed the early atmosphere
40
What was the Earths early atmosphere thought to contain?
Little or no oxygen, large amount of carbon dioxide, water vapour and small amounts of other gases
41
How did oceans initially form?
Condensation of water vapour
42
How did the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere decrease after oceans formed?
Carbon dioxide dissolved into the oceans so the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere decreased
43
How did the amount of oxygen in the early Earths atmosphere increase?
The growth of early plants used carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and released oxygen, this increased the amount of oxygen and decreased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
44
What is the chemical test for oxygen?
Insert a glowing splint into a test tube of gas, if oxygen is present, the splint will ignite
45
What are greenhouse gases?
Various gases in the atmosphere that absorb the heat radiated from Earth
46
What is the greenhouse effect?
EM radiation from the sun passes through the Earths atmosphere, the Earth absorbs some radiation and warms up, heat is radiated from the Earths as infrared radiation and some of the infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which warms the atmosphere
47
How had human activity increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration?
Burning fossil fuels for energy releases carbon dioxide and deforestation reduces the amount of photosynthesis occurring so less carbon dioxide is converted to oxygen
48
How does the evidence that human activity is causing climate change?
There is a correlation between carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, correlation doesn’t mean causation and there may be uncertainties in the data
49
What is the current composition of Earths atmosphere?
Nitrogen: 78%, Oxygen: 21%, Argon:0.93% and Carbon: 0.04%
50
What are the effect of global warming?
Melting of polar ice caps, difficulties acquiring drinking water, flooding, forest fires and destruction of ecosystem
51
How has human activity increased the amount of methane in the atmosphere?
Raising livestock and decay of organic waste in landfills sites
52
How can the effects of global warming be mitigated?
Construct flood defences in areas of low lying land, use of irrigation systems to provide water in drought produce alternative crops which are better adapted to the new environment

GCSE chemistry (8 decks)

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