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Halogenating a hydrocarbon produces something that is not a hydrocarbon. It is a very common and useful process. Hydrocarbons with the same molecular formula but different structural formulae are called structural isomers. [1]: 625 As given in the example of 3-methylhexane and its higher homologues, branched hydrocarbons can be chiral.
The bulk of a typical gasoline consists of a homogeneous mixture of hydrocarbons with between 4 and 12 carbon atoms per molecule (commonly referred to as C4–C12). [7] It is a mixture of paraffins ( alkanes ), olefins ( alkenes ), napthenes ( cycloalkanes ), and aromatics .
Petroleum is used mostly, by volume, for refining into fuel oil and gasoline, both important primary energy sources. 84% by volume of the hydrocarbons present in petroleum is converted into fuels, including gasoline, diesel, jet, heating, and other fuel oils, and liquefied petroleum gas.
Gasoline is the most widely used liquid fuel. Gasoline, as it is known in United States and Canada, or petrol virtually everywhere else, is made of hydrocarbon molecules (compounds that contain hydrogen and carbon only) forming aliphatic compounds, or chains of carbons with hydrogen atoms attached.
The most common replacements of CFCs are mixtures of volatile hydrocarbons, typically propane, n-butane and isobutane. [35] Dimethyl ether (DME) and methyl ethyl ether are also used. All these have the disadvantage of being flammable.
Fuels are also used in the cells of organisms in a process known as cellular respiration, where organic molecules are oxidized to release usable energy. Hydrocarbons and related organic molecules are by far the most common source of fuel used by humans, but other substances, including radioactive metals, are also utilized.
The name ethylene was used in this sense as early as 1852. [43] In 1866, the German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann proposed a system of hydrocarbon nomenclature in which the suffixes -ane, -ene, -ine, -one, and -une were used to denote the hydrocarbons with 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 fewer hydrogens than their parent alkane. [44]
PCBs were also commonly used as heat stabilizer in cables and electronic components to enhance the heat and fire resistance of PVC. [96] In the 1930s, the toxicity associated with PCBs and other chlorinated hydrocarbons, including polychlorinated naphthalenes, was recognized because of a variety of industrial incidents. [97]