1. Introduction to hydrocarbons

Everything that we come across in our environment contains chemistry. It is in the air we breathe, the food we consume and everything we use every day. Even our body is made up of elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, potassium, sulphur and magnesium, etc. Chemistry is important for all chemical reactions in our bodies.

 

Look at all of the pictures above. Each one shows an item that you might have used or seen used by someone else. There is one thing that all of these pictures have in common. Are you able to figure out what it is? They are all made up of hydrocarbons, which are carbon compounds.

 

Hydrocarbons are naturally occurring compounds found in fossil fuels such as crude oil, natural gas and coal. Dead plants and animals were buried on the ocean floor some \(300\) million years ago. They were gradually covered by silt and soil layers. Then they were buried deep down, compressed by temperature and pressure and converted to fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. These fuels are found in porous rocks which lie below large bodies of water, especially oceans. Hydrocarbons can be extracted by drilling these rocks. Hydrocarbons can also be found in various trees and plants.

 

 

 

Liquid: Hexane, benzene
Gas: Methane, propane
Wax: Paraffin