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GCSE Combined Science · key term
A saturated hydrocarbon containing only single bonds between carbon atoms.
Used by AQA and Edexcel
Specification 5.7.1.1, 5.7.1.4 · Paper 4
A saturated hydrocarbon with only single covalent bonds, belonging to the family with general formula .
Revise: Crude Oil and AlkanesThis gives a useful hierarchy: crude oil is the mixture; hydrocarbons are its main compounds; and alkanes are the most common family of hydrocarbons within it.
Specification Fuels · Paper 3, Paper 4
Revise: Crude oil, fractional distillation and crackingMost hydrocarbons in crude oil fractions belong to the alkane homologous series. Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons: they contain only single bonds between carbon atoms. An unsaturated hydrocarbon, by contrast, contains a carbon–carbon double bond.
In a displayed formula, check the elements as well as the bonds: single bonds alone do not make a substance an alkane.
You need to know only methane, ethane, propane and butane by name, but you can be asked to recognise larger alkanes from their formulae.
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