Alkanes GapFill

Alkanes are  organiccarboniccarbohydratehydrocarbons, meaning that they contain only carbon and hydrogen atoms. The electronegativities of carbon and hydrogen atoms are very similar to one another, meaning that C−H bonds do not have a strong dipole. As a result, alkane molecules are held together only by   hydrogen bondingvan der Waals forcesresonanceπ-stacking. They contain only single bonds, i.e. they are   saturatedchiralunsaturatedcyclic. The general formula for a non-cyclic alkane with n carbon atoms is   CnHn+2CnH2n+2CnH2n-2CnH2n.

Alkanes are the main component of crude oil, a mixture of organic compounds also called  peatbiodiesellitholeumpetroleum. The most abundant components of crude oil are long-chain alkanes, which are less useful than short-chain alkanes. Long-chain alkanes are often broken down into more useful molecules through   distillationchromatographycrackingsplitting. This process comes in two main forms:   thermalplasmonicradiativecryonic and catalytic. The former uses very high temperature and pressure, and produces many   alkenesshort-chain alkanesketonesaldehydes. The latter uses high temperature, slightly elevated pressure and  a platinuman irona bauxitea zeolite catalyst. It mainly produces cycloalkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons and the  carboxylic acidsketonesaldehydesshort-chain alkanes used in motor fuel.