Talk:Hydrocarbon
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[edit] number of hydrogens
someone may want to correct the formula for the number of hydrogens in a cyclic compound - that formula only works for alkane cycle compounds - cyclic alkenes and cyclic alkynes have a slightly different formula. IIRC, theyre CnH2n-2 and CnH2n-4. I'm not that great with wiki coding (I always seem to break the page), so could someone update that? -Zionyx (not logged in)
[edit] hydrocarbon energy content
Whay are HCs the primamry choice for energy geenration? Ksenon 02:14, 9 November 2005 (UTC)
Answer: Hydrocarbon fuels are very efficient combustible fuels (ie. they burn easily with oxygen) and produce substantial quantities of energy (due to the relatively hgh enthalpy of a lot of these compounds). As well as this, unlike specifically carbon based fuels (such as charcoal) hydrocarbons can be obtained in gas and liquid states at room temperature and pressure, and this makes them easier to incorporate into modern internal combustion engines (imagine trying to get a car to run on coal!)
Further answer: Using hydrocarbons is a very cheap (cost per energy output) way to make useable energy. While alternatives are getting closer in terms of cost (because cost of hydrocarbons especially oil and natural gas is going up and the cost of alternatives are falling), they are just beginning to be economically competitive. Nuclear power has been very close economically but because of political hazards and setbacks after 3-mile-island and Chernobyl, the U.S. has veered away from this. Yet Europe, specifically the U.K, has developed a large nuclear infrastructure in their effort to wean themselves off of hydrocarbons. Caleb rosenberg 23:53, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
This is an excellent dialogue. But, how come none of this is reflected in the main article, at least as of today? The 'burning hydrocarbons' section instead goes on about burning coal, which is hardly a hydrocarbon. Can somebody knowledgeable edit this section please? Reddyuday (talk) 11:20, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Hydrocarbons and tropospheric ozone
"In urban pollution, these components--along with NOx and sunlight--all contribute to the formation of tropospheric ozone." Although the exhaust from conventional internal combustion engines contributes to tropospheric ozone, I don't think it has anything to do with hydrocarbons. I may be mistaken. Can someone shed some light on this? - Yossarian4010
I dont think you're mistaken, I know next to nothing about chemistry, however ozone is O3 aint it? Hydrocarbons are made of H and C in various configurations.. Hydrocarbons dont contain O, hence cant even think of becoming ozone, unless alchemy is alive and well! --Kvuo 06:01, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
- Yossarian and Kvuo are both mistaken. HC contribute to the formation of ozone, which doesn't imply that HC must contain oxygen. See Tropospheric ozone#Formation for details, keeping in mind that some VOCs are HC. Spiffy sperry 06:06, 27 November 2005 (UTC)
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- very good.. thanx! --Kvuo 15:15, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] hydrocarbons, environment and usage
I am trying to expand on hydrocarbons and the environment topic eg. how they are formed, mined, moved, refined and used. With over 300 links at the Hydrocarbon: what links here page, I thought it was appropriate to draw attention to this important entry with less than 20 sentences. It would be good to see some images from the Commons put in to this article. Most of the current external links are about abiotic processes and might not be appropriate on this page. - Shiftchange 19:58, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Wax in crude oil
How do you see wax in crude oil? What is charateristic of parafin wax , (Pour Point, Vapour)?
[edit] Add more Hydrocarbons
I'm not one to actually add stuff to articles, but might i suggest adding hydrocarbons beyond propane. Pentane (5 Carbon), Hexane, Heptane, Octane, Nonane, Decane (10 Carbon).
The "Cyclic" hydrocarbon also can be shows as "Cyclo". Ex. "Cyclohexane".
Naming rules: 1,2 Methyl 4-cyclohexene
The 1 & 2 in the front show a chain of Methyl carbons, which are one carbon chains. The 4- shows that there's the double bond on the 4th carbon. cyclo indicates the hexagonal shape. Someone more knowledgable could add some of this in. I can only provide what I know and will not be able to explain it well.
-- Its not 4-hexene - the number in front refers to the lowest possible number, and in hexene, that would actually be 2-hexene. -Zionyx (not logged in)
[edit] Types of hydrocarbons
Should a fourth type of hydrocarbon be added? I don't know where alicyclic hydrocarbons would fit in the existing three types. youngvalter 05:55, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
- Done! Silverchemist 19:00, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Images
I think we should delete the photo of an oil refinery, or at least it move it down the article somewhat. An oil refinery is not a hydrocarbon, it's just one part of one aspect of the harnessing of hydrocarbons. We should have a picture of some hydrocarbons, preferably both models of molecules and photos of some bulk samples. I'm thinking of a propane cylinder, a beaker of liquid hexane and some wax.
What do you guys think?
Ben 20:43, 17 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Polar or Non-Polar
Is a hydrocarbon polar or non-polar? If it is polar, would it react if it is mixed with water, since water is also a polar molecule? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 572766 (talk) 22:41, 19 February 2007 (UTC). 572766 23:40, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
- Hydrocarbons are non-polar; the electronegativity values between carbons are equal, which allows them to catenate due to the absence of "competition", as hydrogens have little effect. If you were to place some in water, you would notice that there is a heterogeneous mixture of the two, whereby the fuel/hydrocarbons in liquid state would remain unreacted generally because water is a polar solvent. For example, the Halogens dissolve somewhat sparingly in water, albeit slower or more incomplete than when in hexane, because they are similarly non-polar solvents.
♥♥ ΜÏΠЄSΓRΘΠ€ ♥♥ slurp me! 11:45, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Recent reversion
I recently reverted it because i'm concerned about the length of the introduction; it's indeed correct that Methane is naturally abundant, but i just want to prevent the introduction from becoming segmented as it was before. ♥♥ ΜÏΠЄSΓRΘΠ€ ♥♥ slurp me! 06:58, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] concatenation?
re: ... ``a hydrocarbon (a concatenation of the words "hydrogen" and "carbon")..., if it were a concatenation, it would be "hydrogencarbon"; ie, the 'gen' would not be discarded.
in looking up Compound Words, it seems that they're typically either concatenations or simple adjacencies; i don't know what the correct linguistic term for a word who is formed via lossy synthesis, but whatever that word is, it seems that it should replace 'concatenation'. Jrrs 15:03, 3 June 2007 (UTC)
- It's just a loose term; the term concatenation means "joining", but it's not unusual to see it used these days to explain buzzword-type chemistry; i guess it needs replacing for accuracy if nothing else. Actually, the term "hydrogencarbon" was the original term used, and then it was shortened to hydrocarbon. ♥♥ ΜÏΠЄSΓRΘΠ€ ♥♥ slurp me! 20:12, 3 June 2007 (UTC)
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- You might be looking for the terms contraction, or more precisely; portmanteau.
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- Ben 21:13, 3 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] on hydrocarbons and carbohydrates
Obviously, both have carbon and hydrogen. What is the difference? Is one a sub-category of the other?
- No. hydrocarbon = hydrogen + carbon = CxHy. carbohydrate = carbon hydrate = carbon + water = CxH2xOx --Cubbi 02:14, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Petty vandalism
It looks like this page has been the target of quite a bit of random vandalism, primarily by 66.225.141.109, although there was some other stuff. I went fairly far back in the history to look at old edits and try to ID the bad edits, but perhaps somebody who truly cares about this article should check again. 76.199.8.243 20:15, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Methane as cleanest fuel
Under the Burning Hydrocarbons section, there is a comment which states: 'As methane only releases one carbon dioxide for two water molecules, it is considered the cleanest fuel.'
This is unreferenced, as well as unsubstantiated. Clean in what way? 2 moles of methane will release the same amount of CO2 as one mole of ethane, but you need to burn more methane in order to get the same heat output. The relevance of the CO2 to H2O ratio is also unclear. I recommend that this sentence be removed or reworked.
99.236.149.49 (talk) 05:37, 30 January 2008 (UTC) Mark louie baquit —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.53.160.225 (talk) 14:39, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Abiotic Oil
Abiotic sources of oil are a highly convenient theory, but it is widely believed among scientists and petroleum engineers today that the origins of oil are overwhelmingly biotic. It is not a controversy, just a fringe theory that certain large multinational corporations have a vested interest in promoting. I will supply sources and drag in experts if you like, but I'm not really interested in getting into a flame war over the subject. This is already an overlong justification of a pretty minor edit. Tenebrous (talk) 02:13, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
