Cracking Hydrocarbons

Describe the industrial production of more useful, smaller hydrocarbon molecules from larger ones through the process of cracking.
Differentiate between the processes of catalytic cracking and steam cracking.
Identify the products of cracking, which include smaller alkanes and unsaturated hydrocarbons called alkenes.
Understand the economic driver for cracking, specifically the high demand for smaller hydrocarbon molecules to be used as fuels.
Explain that alkenes (such as ethene) are vital starting materials for producing polymers and many other chemicals.
Balance chemical equations to represent cracking processes when given the formulae of the reactants and products.

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