Crude Oil (Edexcel IGCSE Chemistry): Exam Questions

Incomplete combustion occurs when there is insufficient oxygen for a reaction.

Which are the two main substances formed during incomplete combustion, aside from water?

Cars running on fossil fuels contribute a high amount of pollutants into the atmosphere, one of which is carbon dioxide.

Which other gas is produced by the internal combustion engine in a car?

Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons.

This passage is about the industrial separation of crude oil. Complete the passage by adding the missing words.

Crude oil is ............................................................... to form vapour. The vapour is passed through a ........................................column. The refinery gases are collected at the top of the column because they have low .............................................. ............................................. .

Bitumen is collected at the bottom of the column. Give one use of bitumen.

One of the hydrocarbons in crude oil is an alkane with this structural formula.

CH₃CH₂CH₂CH₂CH₃

i) Give the name of this alkane.

ii) Calculate the relative molecular mass (M_r) of this alkane.

M_r = ..............................................................

Catalytic cracking is used to convert long-chain alkanes into shorter-chain alkanes. Give the name of the catalyst and the temperature used in catalytic cracking.

Catalytic cracking also produces alkenes.

Decane (C₁₀H₂₂) can undergo cracking to give C₄H₁₀ and two different alkenes.

Complete the equation for this cracking process.

C₁₀H₂₂ → C₄H₁₀ + ..................... + .....................

Fractional distillation is the process by which crude oil is separated into simpler, more useful fractions.

Which of the following statements about the process of fractional distillation is correct?

Kerosene, bitumen and diesel oil are fractions obtained through the fractional distillation of crude oil.

Which of the following shows the correct use of each fraction?

Crude oil is a mixture of organic compounds. Most of these compounds are members of the same homologous series.

State the name of this homologous series.

An industrial process is used to separate crude oil into fractions.

i) The process depends on a difference in a property of the fractions. What is this property?

ii) The boxes give some uses of fractions and some names of fractions.

Draw one straight line from each use to its correct fraction.

Fuels obtained from the fractions may contain impurities.

Explain how the combustion of a common impurity in fuels may cause an environmental problem.

Some of the fractions contain long-chain molecules which are not very useful.

i) Give the name of the process used to convert long-chain molecules into more useful shorter-chain molecules.

ii) Give the catalyst and temperature used in the industrial process to convert long-chain molecules into shorter-chain molecules.

catalyst..............................................................................................................................

temperature.......................................................................................................................

iii) When C₁₃H₂₈ is used in this process, three different molecules are formed.

Complete the equation for this reaction.

C₁₃H₂₈ → C₈H₁₈ + ............................... + ...............................

Propane is a hydrocarbon with the formula C₃H₈

State why propane is a hydrocarbon.

i) Name the poisonous gas that forms when propane is burned in a limited supply of air.

ii) State why this gas is poisonous to humans.

The diagram represents a molecule of propane.

Describe the forces of attraction between the atoms in a molecule of propane.

Propane can be produced by cracking. An equation for cracking is

C₁₃H₂₈ → C₃H₈ + 2C₃H₆ + 2C₂H₄

Explain why cracking is an important process in the oil industry.

Propane reacts with bromine in the presence of ultraviolet radiation.

i) Complete the equation for this reaction.

C₃H₈ + Br₂ → ............................... + ...............................

ii) Give the name of this type of reaction.

The diagram shows some processes involved in the oil industry.

Which process represents cracking?

This question is about hydrocarbons.

State the meaning of the term hydrocarbon.

One homologous series of hydrocarbons is the alkanes. Pentane (C₅H₁₂) is an alkane.

i) When pentane burns completely in oxygen, carbon dioxide and water are produced. Give a chemical equation for this combustion reaction.

ii) Incomplete combustion can occur when the oxygen supply is limited. Give the names of two products of the incomplete combustion of pentane.

iii) One of the products of incomplete combustion is a poisonous gas. State why this gas is poisonous to humans.

iv) C₅H₁₂ has three isomers. The displayed formula for one of these isomers is

Draw the displayed formulae of the other two isomers.

Another homologous series of hydrocarbons is the alkenes. Alkenes are unsaturated hydrocarbons.

i) Give the general formula for the alkenes.

ii) State the meaning of the term unsaturated.

iii) Describe a test to show that a hydrocarbon is unsaturated.

The diagram shows the industrial equipment used to separate crude oil into fractions.

i) Give the name of the industrial equipment.

ii) Give one use of the fuel oil fraction.

iii) Give the names of fraction A and fraction F.

Fraction A Fraction F

One compound in the gasoline fraction is the alkane octane (C₈H₁₈) and one compound in the kerosene fraction is the alkane dodecane (C₁₂H₂₆)

These two alkanes are covalently bonded and have simple molecular structures.

i) Give the general formula for the alkanes.

ii) Explain, in terms of their structures, why C₁₂H₂₆ has a higher boiling point than C₈H₁₈

Catalytic cracking can be used to convert the alkane C₁₂H₂₆ into more useful products.

i) Give the name of the catalyst used for catalytic cracking.

ii) Complete the equation for this cracking reaction.

C₁₂H₂₆ → C₉H₂₀ + ..................................................

Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons.

Name the process used to separate crude oil into fractions.

Give one use of the kerosene fraction.

One of the hydrocarbons in the refinery gas fraction is an alkane with the structural formula CH₃CH₂CH₂CH_3.

i) Give the name of this alkane.

ii) Calculate the relative molecular mass (M_r) of this alkane.

One of the alkanes in the gasoline fraction has the displayed formula

i) Determine the molecular formula of this alkane.

ii) Give the general formula for the alkanes.

Catalytic cracking is used to convert long‐chain alkanes into shorter‐chain alkanes.

i) Name the catalyst used in catalytic cracking.

ii) Explain why it is necessary to convert long‐chain alkanes into shorter‐chain alkanes.

Catalytic cracking also produces alkenes. C₁₁H₂₄ can undergo cracking to give pentane (C₅H₁₂) and two different alkenes. Complete the equation for this cracking reaction.

C₁₁H₂₄ → C₅H₁₂ + ............................+............................

Crude oil is an important source of organic compounds.

The diagram shows crude oil being separated into different fractions.

i) Name the process used to separate crude oil into different fractions.

ii) State what happens to the crude oil at X.

iii) Describe the differences between fraction B and fraction E. In your answer, refer to

• size of the molecules
• boiling point
• colour
• viscosity

Crude oil often contains sulfur as an impurity.

Explain why this is a problem when using crude oil fractions as fuels.

The diagram shows a fractionating column used to separate crude oil into fractions.

i) Give a use for bitumen and a use for gasoline.

Use for bitumen: ....................................................................

Use for gasoline: ...................................................................

ii) Explain why bitumen is collected at the bottom of the fractionating column and gasoline is collected near the top of the fractionating column.

There is a low demand for some of the fractions obtained from crude oil. Cracking can be used to convert these fractions into more useful substances.

i) State the conditions needed for cracking.

ii) Dodecane (C₁₂H₂₆) can be cracked to produce an alkane and two alkenes.

Complete the equation by giving the formulae of the two alkenes.

C₁₂H₂₆ → C₇H₁₆ + ................................ + ....................................

Describe how long-chain alkanes are converted into short-chain alkanes and alkenes.

Explain why it is necessary to convert long-chain alkanes into short-chain alkanes and alkenes.

This question is about hydrocarbons.

The table shows the formulae of some hydrocarbons.

i) Give the letters that represent hydrocarbons with the general formula C_nH_2n

ii) State why B is the only hydrocarbon shown as a displayed formula.

iii) Explain which two letters represent isomers.

iv) How many of the hydrocarbons are members of the homologous series of alkanes?

Many hydrocarbons are used as fuels. There are problems associated with this use.

i) Explain how the combustion of a hydrocarbon can lead to the formation of a poisonous gas.

ii) State why this gas is poisonous to humans.

Fuels used in cars often have sulfur compounds removed.

Explain how the combustion of these fuels in car engines still leads to the formation of acid rain.

The flow chart shows how ethene can be obtained industrially from crude oil.

Step 1 involves the use of a tall column. Describe how the diesel fraction is obtained from the crude oil in step 1.

In step 2, saturated compounds such as dodecane are obtained from the mixture of hydrocarbons in the diesel fraction. Explain why dodecane is described as a saturated hydrocarbon.

Which of these formulae is that of an alkane?

In step 3, cracking is used to convert alkanes into alkenes. Complete the equation to show the reaction in which one molecule of dodecane is converted into two molecules of ethene and one molecule of another hydrocarbon.

C₁₂H₂₆ → 2C₂H₄ + .....................................

Alkanes and alkenes both react with halogens, but in different ways. The equations for two examples of these different reactions are shown.

equation 1 C₂H₆+ Cl₂ → C₂H₅Cl + compound X

equation 2 C₂H₄ + Br₂ → C₂H₄Br₂

i) State the condition needed for the reaction in equation 1 to occur.

ii) Deduce the formula of compound X.

iii) Draw a dot-and-cross diagram to represent a molecule of C₂H₅Cl

Show only the outer electrons of each atom.

iv) Equation 2 shows an example of an addition reaction. State the type of reaction shown by equation 1.

Alkenes can be distinguished from alkanes using bromine water.

i) What colour change occurs in the reaction between propene and bromine water?

ii) A compound formed in the reaction between propene and bromine water has the percentage composition by mass:

C = 25.9%, H = 5.0%, Br = 57.6% and O = 11.5%

Calculate the empirical formula of this compound.

This question is about octane (C₈H₁₈) which is produced in the gasoline fraction during fractional distillation of crude oil.

The diagram shows a fractionating column.

Describe how crude oil is separated into fractions in the fractionating column.

Octane can also be produced by the process of cracking. Give the conditions for cracking.

A car is driven at constant speed for 4.00 km.

The exhaust gases are collected and their volume at room temperature and pressure (rtp) is 5.02 × 10⁵ cm³.

The exhaust gases include carbon dioxide and oxides of nitrogen.

The carbon dioxide is removed from the exhaust gases. The volume of the remaining gases at rtp is 2.96 × 10⁵ cm³.

i) Explain how oxides of nitrogen form in a car engine.

ii) Give a reason why oxides of nitrogen should not be released into the atmosphere.

iii) Show that the car produces less than 100 g of carbon dioxide per km. [molar volume of carbon dioxide at rtp = 24 000 cm³]

This question is about the processes and reactions which occur in the petrochemical industry.

The diagram below shows some of these processes and reactions.

i) Describe the conditions required in reactor 1.

(2)

ii) Name the reaction that occurs in reactor 2.

Compare the properties of gasoline and fuel oil.

Reactor 1 is used to break down large alkanes into smaller hydrocarbons. The market demand for shorter chain alkanes is greater than the market demand for long chain alkanes.

Suggest one reason why.

Short chain fractions have low supply and high market demand.

Suggest three ways in which the oil industry could overcome this problem.

The table below shows some alkanes that are found in crude oil.

A student was investigating the properties of the alkanes shown in the table above using the following method:

1. Pour 20 cm³ of C₅H₁₂ into a funnel

2. Open the tap and start a stopwatch

3. When the level of C₅H₁₂ reaches line X stop the stopwatch

4. Repeat steps with the other two alkanes

The diagram below shows the apparatus used.

C₅H₁₂ took 5.3 seconds to reach line X.

Explain the trend you would expect to see when the student repeats the method with the other two alkanes.

This question is about pollutants.

Fossil fuels, such as coal, are burned to release energy.

Hydrogen, sulfur, and carbon are all elements found in coal.

Name two products released when coal burns that have a negative effect on the environment.

State the impact each of the products you have named have.

Another major source of pollutants is motor vehicles.

i) Nitrogen monoxide, NO, is released by motor vehicle exhausts. Explain how nitrogen monoxide is formed in motor vehicle engines.

ii) When nitrogen monoxide is released into the atmosphere, nitrogen dioxide, NO₂, is formed. Suggest an explanation why this happens.

Describe two effects of oxides of nitrogen being released into the atmosphere.

How are the amounts of carbon monoxide and nitrogen monoxide emitted by modern motor vehicles reduced?

Include an equation in your answer.