Alkanes

What is Alkanes?

Within Chemistry, which covers atoms, bonding, reactions, the periodic table, organic chemistry and the chemistry of everyday life, this topic explains Alkanes. Chemistry links what you can see in the lab to the particles and bonds behind it, so each topic here shows that link in a model.

Check that you can explain Alkanes in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.

Understanding Alkanes helps you explain why substances behave as they do, from cleaning products and food to medicines.

Alkanes in detail

Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons with only single carbon–carbon bonds and the general formula CₙH₂ₙ₊₂. The first four are methane (CH₄), ethane (C₂H₆), propane (C₃H₈) and butane (C₄H₁₀).

They are fairly unreactive but burn well, making good fuels, and they react with halogens in sunlight in substitution reactions. As the chain length increases, boiling point and viscosity increase and flammability decreases. Alkanes are the main components of petrol, natural gas and LPG.

How the interactive helps you understand Alkanes

Click a card to flip it and reveal the answer, then move on to the next one.

Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Alkanes.

Real-life uses and examples

• Explain Alkanes in an exam by linking the particles involved to what you observe.
• Use Alkanes to explain what happens in a lab experiment and why.
• Link Alkanes to everyday products such as cleaning agents, food and medicines.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mixing up the names of substances or ions when you describe Alkanes.
• Describing what happens without explaining the particles or bonds involved.
• Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.