Why Hydrocarbons Boil at Different Temperatures
In short: A weak attraction between molecules, the London force, grows with molecular size and depends on shape, setting each alkane's boiling point and letting refineries separate crude oil by distillation before conversion processes such as cracking.
A 2:04 short film in the series “How Things Work”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: LibreTexts (Chemistry LibreTexts; Organic Chemistry, Morsch et al.), “3.5: Properties of Alkanes”; LibreTexts Chemistry (ChemPRIME, Chemical Education Digital Library; authors Ed Vitz, John W. Moore, Justin Shorb, Xavier Prat-Resina, Tim Wendorff, Adam Hahn), “8.4: London Forces”; U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), “Refining crude oil - the refining process - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)”; BBC Bitesize (British Broadcasting Corporation), “Fractional distillation of crude oil - Crude oil - GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) Revision - Cambridge OCR 21st Century - BBC Bitesize”.
Sources used in this film
- LibreTexts (Chemistry LibreTexts; Organic Chemistry, Morsch et al.) — 3.5: Properties of Alkanes · View →
- LibreTexts Chemistry (ChemPRIME, Chemical Education Digital Library; authors Ed Vitz, John W. Moore, Justin Shorb, Xavier Prat-Resina, Tim Wendorff, Adam Hahn) — 8.4: London Forces · View →
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) — Refining crude oil - the refining process - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) · View →
- BBC Bitesize (British Broadcasting Corporation) — Fractional distillation of crude oil - Crude oil - GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) Revision - Cambridge OCR 21st Century - BBC Bitesize · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: LibreTexts (Chemistry LibreTexts; Organic Chemistry, Morsch et al.): 3.5: Properties of Alkanes
- Also: LibreTexts Chemistry (ChemPRIME, Chemical Education Digital Library; authors Ed Vitz, John W. Moore, Justin Shorb, Xavie: 8.4: London Forces
- Also: www.eia.gov — Refining crude oil - the refining process - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
- Also: BBC Bitesize (BBC): Fractional distillation of crude oil - Crude oil - GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) Revision - Cambridge OCR 21st Century - BBC Bitesize
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