Abstract
This paper uses a laboratory experiment to investigate several physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons. A hydrocarbon is any organic compound that contains only carbons bonded to other carbons and hydrogen. It provides a basic overview of the different classes, alkanes, alkenes and alkynes, and compares their physical properties through appearance and odour and their chemical properties through a set of reactions.

Outline:
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Discussion

From the Paper
"As expected, all the hydrocarbons were insoluble in water and soluble in cyclohexane. This is because of their nonpolar nature. In a very polar substance like water, there is so much repulsion that the compounds cannot dissolve at all (Wade, 65-67). This was indicated by the formation of a line clearly seperating each polar compound and water. Biphenyl was the only compound that did not produce such a noticeable division and thus, it was slightly soluble in water. However, this was likely due to impurities in either the biphenyl (containing polar impurities) or the water (containing nonpolar ones). In cyclohexane, a typical polar hydrocarbon, the solubility of all three classes was very similar."

Tags:alkanes, alkenes, alkynes

Abstract
This paper discusses the differences between organic and inorganic chemistry and provides a brief insight into organic chemistry and the family of the hydrocarbons. It looks at how the salient point to remember in the formation of compounds (everything else flows from there) that drives chemical processes is the need to complete the valence or the atomic shell of each element?s inherent instability. It shows how inorganic and organic chemistry are the results of variable approaches to solving the instability and how this then results in the formation of the stable compounds that the world we live in and the universe at large need to survive.

From the Paper
"The arrangement of the four electrons around the carbon lend it a tetrahedral (equal on four sides in three dimensions) geometry. The simplest organic compound is methane (inflammable gas found in sewers and coal mines) where a single carbon atom is covalently linked to four hydrogen atoms. In this way, each hydrogen atom can claim two electrons needed to complete its shell (its own and one from carbon). The four carbon electrons and one each from the four hydrogen atoms complete its shell of eight. If one considers a chain of carbon atoms linked together carbon to carbon (C-C) with associated carbon to hydrogen (C-H) bonds, an organic molecule is formed. These compounds are straight chains, rings, or chains with cross- links and branches."

Tags:atoms, electrons, alkanes, alkenes, alkynes