Carbon; the Great Hydrogen Tamer!

The more I look at Carbon, the more amazed I am at its versatility and utility. We know carbon in many of its forms from the exotic and mesmerizing diamond, to its simple plastic, and finally to its many forms of fuel we call hydrocarbons.

The technical reason for Carbon's utility is that it has 4 locations for bonding to other elements, including itself. Hydrocarbons come in 2 forms, Aromatic and Alkane. Aromatic is more dense form of hydrocarbon since its center is formed of a carbon ring. Pretty nifty, but for our purposes it tends to disqualify itself as a fuel, while making a great glue and is excellent at keeping moths away from your clothes ... among other things.

Alkanes:
The most simplistic form of hydrocarbon is methane with its single Carbon atom saturated with four hydrogen. Light-weight, powerful, and emits the least amount of Carbon when burned than any of the other hydrocarbons. Next is the little-mentioned Ethane with 2 Carbons and 6 hydrogen, followed by Propane and Butane, each adding another Carbon and 2 hydrogen.

Since I cannot draw the organization of the molecule here, I'll simply post a link for a visual aid.

As one ponders the larger of the molecules, it becomes easier to comprehend that the larger the molecule, the more Carbon there is in the ratio. Methane has a 4:1 hydrogen to Carbon ratio, and Butane 10:4, or simplified 5:2. It is also easy to notice that these are all gasses at room temperature, but what is not as easy to spot is that the lighter-weight of the gaseous hydrocarbon are also the least dense. Chilling or compressing the gas becomes necessary for transportation ... or the gas can be piped. Either of these solutions are costly, but for the energy yield they are costs that can be overcome.

So where does gasoline fit in? Basically where the molecules become Carbon-laden enough to become liquid without compressing or chilling, that is above butane. The molecules of the hydrocarbon mixture in gasoline contain 5 to 10 Carbon. Then kerosene is in the 10 to 16 Carbon range. Diesel fuel and fuel oils are in this range as well, but contain solid hydrocarbon molecules with 17 Carbons on up.

Getting back to gasoline. Since the Carbon to Hydrogen ratio is becoming more equal, the hydrogen aspects of these molecules becomes less apparent, therefore easier to handle. After refining, there is no extra manipulation needed to use it ... other than to make a little effort to keep it from evaporating or leaking. These are less costly devices than pressurized or cooled tanks, or even piping over distances.

Products on the market today containing solid hydrocarbons with these heavy chains include petroleum jelly, paraffin wax, asphalt, detergents, cosmetics, plastics and more.

So if Carbon is such a great tamer of hydrogen, why have hydrocarbons recently become an ecological by-word? I think we all know the short answer to that, but I hope you will continue to follow my blog as I discuss this ... in my next post.

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