Hydrocarbons

Research Paper # 112924

Chemistry

Hydrocarbons

A basic overview of the properties of hydrocarbons.

982 words () | 5 sources | MLA | 2007 Canada

Paper Summary:

This paper uses a laboratory experiment to investigate several physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons. A hydrocarbon is any organic compound that contains only carbons bonded to other carbons and hydrogen. It provides a basic overview of the different classes, alkanes, alkenes and alkynes, and compares their physical properties through appearance and odour and their chemical properties through a set of reactions.

Outline:
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Discussion

From the Paper:

"As expected, all the hydrocarbons were insoluble in water and soluble in cyclohexane. This is because of their nonpolar nature. In a very polar substance like water, there is so much repulsion that the compounds cannot dissolve at all (Wade, 65-67). This was indicated by the formation of a line clearly seperating each polar compound and water. Biphenyl was the only compound that did not produce such a noticeable division and thus, it was slightly soluble in water. However, this was likely due to impurities in either the biphenyl (containing polar impurities) or the water (containing nonpolar ones). In cyclohexane, a typical polar hydrocarbon, the solubility of all three classes was very similar."

Sample of Sources Used:

"Chemical Structure." ChemIDplus Advanced. 2005. U.S. National Library of Medicine. 28 Oct 2007. <http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus>
"Litmus". Reference Encyclopedia. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1998.
Organic Chemistry Lab Manual. SC/CHEM 2020.06. Toronto: York University Department of Chemistry, Fall-Winter 2007-2008.
Potvin, Pierre. Organic Chemistry First Half Course Kit. Fall/Winter 2007-2008. Toronto: York University, 2007
Wade, L.G. Organic Chemistry. 6th ed. 2006