Sunday, August 28, 2011

advantages vs the disadvantages in producing alcohol by fermentation and in industry

Producing alcohol from fermentation:


Advantages
Disadvantages
Renewable recourses
Cost of production is high and requires more energy
Doesn’t release harmful gases into the atmosphere
Lots of workers are needed
Batch production – can start and stop at any time
Production is very slow
Little energy needed
Product is impure, need further treatment











Producing alcohol in industries from:

Advantages
Disadvantages
Production is very fast
Non renewable
Production is continuos – runs all the time
Releases poisonous gases into atmosphere
Few workers needed – save money
Lots of energy needed
Product is pure
High temperature and pressure conditions needed

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Alkanes and Isomers






3.4 Recall the products of the complete and incomplete combustion of alkanes

1.    Saturated hydrocarbons are called alkanes
2.    Small chain alkanes are used as fuels
3.    The reaction is called combustion
4.    The word equation for this chemical reaction is :
5.    Fuel (alkanes) + Oxygen → Carbon DioxideWater + ENERGY (heat, light, sound)
6.    If there is insufficient oxygen then the word equation is:
7.    Fuel (alkanes) + Oxygen → Carbon monoxide + Water+ ENERGY (heat, light, sound)
8.    The problem with this reaction is that carbon monoxide is produced this gas is poisonous to the human body (see objective 5.11):  The substance haemoglobin in the blood has a bigger liking of carbon monoxide than oxygen, therefore less oxygen can be transported while carbon monoxide attaches itself to the red blood cell and does not come off the red blood cell, so there would be less room for oxygen to be diffused around the body. When it gets serious, its fatal
9.    Where can you find incomplete combustion?
 In cars
10.  What is used to reduce the harmful products from incomplete combustion? 
Catalytic Converter ( converts carbon monoxide -->carbon dioxide)
11.   During incomplete combustion a smoky flame is often seen, explain this observation
Soot is formed from the unburnt carbon coming from incomplete combustion
12.   Describe the two chemical tests for water
a.     Cobalt chloride paper is paper soaked in cobalt(II) chloride (CoCl2) solution. When there is water, the paper turns from blue to pink.
b.    If we add white crystals of (anhydrous) copper sulphate to a substance and a blue solution is obtained, water is present
13.   Describe the chemical test for carbon dioxide gas:
 Lime water turns milky
14.  Describe a physical test for water:
Boiling point (boils at 100 degrees C)
15.  Extn: write a balanced equation (with state symbols) for the combustion of propane gas:
C3H8 + 5 O2 ---> 3 CO2 + 4 H2O

Sunday, June 12, 2011

3.2 and 3.3 I can recall the general formula and displayed formulae of alkanes

What is the general formula for alkanes? 
      Cn H2n+2
Describe and explain the trend in boiling points:
The boiling points goes up as the chain length increases. This happens because it is harder to break the molecular forces of the bonds.
Name of Alkane
Chemical Formula
Boling Point (oc)
State at room temperature
Methane
C2H6
-89
gas
Ethane
C2H6
-89
gas
Propane
C3H8
-42
gas
Butane
C4H10
0
gas
Pentane
C5H12
36
liquid

3.1 I can explain the terms homologous series, hydrocarbon, saturated, unsaturated, general formula and isomerism




Term
Definition
Example
Homologous series

A series of organic compounds containing the same general formula and the same chemical properties.

 Methane
Hydrocarbon
 A compound containing hydrogen and carbon

 Diesel
Saturated hydrocarbon
 When carbon to carbon atoms are singly bonded with the hydrogen’s

 Alkanes
Unsaturated hydrocarbon
When carbon to carbon atoms are double bonded with the hydrogen’s  

 Alkanes
General formula
 A formula allowing us to know the number of hydrogen by looking at the number of carbon

 CnH2n+2
Isomerism
 Compounds with the same molecular fornula but different structural formulas

 Butane

Sunday, May 22, 2011

5.13 I can describe catayltic cracking of long-chain hydrocarbons

1.     What is a catalyst?
A substance that speeds up the experiment
2.     What is the purpose of the catalysts in the experiment? 
To speed up the experiment
3.     What is 'cracking' used for?
To break down long chain molecules into more shorter chain molecules
4.    What are the common catalysts used in this process?
Silica or Aluminum etc.
5.     What is the ceramic pot used for?
They are used as a catalyst to speed up the experiment
6.    What is the purpose of cracking the Hydrocarbons?
The useful hydrocarbons tend to be the shorter ones, however, when we have a longer-chained one, they go to waste but we can use this process to break the long chained molecules into the shorter and useful molecules.
7.    What gas Is produced from cracking paraffin?
Ethane
     8.What do you have to look out for while carrying out the liquid paraffin experiment?
You have to very careful and avoid the water backfiring into the column or else an explosion will occur

5.12 I can recall the problems associated with the fractional distillation of crude oil


Read Chem4you P.145

a. When crude oil undergoes( fractional distillation )there are too many( long )chain hydrocarbons (e.g. bitumen) and produced not enough( short ) chain hydrocarbons (e.g.diesel)

b. To solve these problems,( long chain hydrocarbons) undergo a chemical reaction called (crackling)