Hydrocarbons and alkanesIB MYP Chemistry: Mind map

Exam questions on Hydrocarbons and alkanes

1. A refinery in Rotterdam heats crude oil until most of it has vaporised and then feeds it into a tall fractionating column. The column is hot at the bottom and much cooler at the top. Different products are drawn off at different heights.
   Explain how fractional distillation separates the hydrocarbons in crude oil into fractions.2 marks
2. A student is given the molecular formulae of a series of hydrocarbons: CH₄, C₂H₆, C₃H₈, C₄H₁₀ and C₅H₁₂.
   Explain why propane, C₃H₈, is described as a saturated hydrocarbon.2 marks
3. A student in Mexico City investigates what is produced when methane, the main gas in natural gas, burns in a Bunsen burner with the air hole open. She holds a cold, dry glass funnel above the flame and connects it by a tube to a boiling tube containing limewater.
   Describe how the student could use the apparatus to show that burning methane produces both water and carbon dioxide.3 marks