Crude oil is a fossil fuel - what is a fossil fuel and how is crude oil separated into its fractions?
A fossil fuel is a substance like coal, oil, or natural gas formed from decayed plant or animal remains which can be burned to produce energy and power. Crude oil is separated by fractional distillation - first you need to heat it to evaporate the hydrocarbons. The vapours enter the column which is warmer at the bottom and cooler at the top, the different fractions of crude oil will condense at different temperature levels of the column as they have different boiling points.
ES
Related Chemistry GCSE answers
All answers ▸Why do group 1 metals become more reactive as you descend the group?
Why can crude oil be separated by fractional distillation?
Explain why chlorine (Cl2) is a gas at room temperature, but sodium chloride (NaCl) is a solid at room temperature.
What is the Bohr electron configuration of Oxygen? And further O2- ?