3 reasons please.
Thanks,
Lorna
2007-09-07 07:59:03 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
there's plenty
not polluting
why not
2007-09-07 08:43:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Well I'm not sure how much that I can help you, but I do know that the gasoline, the first fuel that comes to mind, is octane based. That's where that numbers come from at the pump, "regular" 85 or 87 is 85% octane and the premium stuff is like 90 or 93%. Also, I'm pretty sure that propane can be used as fuel, as for the others I'm not sure. Butane is in cigarette lighters and methane is what we burn with those bunsen burners, but I'm not sure about many others, although they all should burn
2016-04-03 09:09:56 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Depends on whether you are asking to fit a home work question or really want the truth.
For the teacher's test/assignment,
1-readily available, about 80% of most natural gas is methane, butane is often 2-4%. Butane and to some extent methane is a bi product of oil refining.
2-they are relatively easy to handle, non toxic (well pretty much so), can be piped, compressed and stored or clooled and stored as liquids, easy to control a gas flame etc.
3 they have a high calorific value, ie lots of stored chemical energy.
Now if you want the bigger picture answer,
1 because we can access them easily, ie at low cost. And if we don't have to account for the consequences of using them as fuel (green house gas production), they are cheap to use. (we simply pass the real cost—damage to our environment onto our children and grandchildren, let them pay the price for our cheap energy)
2 because the oil refineries can make an extra profit by selling the bi-products as fuel as well.
3 because each kilowatt hour of energy produced by burning methane produces less than half the CO2 of a kilowatt hour produced by burning coal and only 2 thirds of the CO2 of using petrol.
4 because we have not converted to renewable energy sources yet. (although methane can be a renewable fuel if collected from bio-digestion)
2007-09-07 18:26:30 · answer #3 · answered by Walaka F 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lorna,
They're quite unreactive, because methane and butane are saturated hydrocarbons, so they won't react as much.
Taryn
2007-09-08 06:23:41 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reasons Butanes are highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gases
2007-09-07 09:03:52 · answer #5 · answered by Briu1970 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Probably because they have a high octane rating, which means that they are less prone to auto-igniting.
Secondly they are readily made materials and so are easy to get hold of and are cheap.
Thirdly, they probably produce less pollutants because they are oxidised efficiently on combustion.
2007-09-09 05:53:38 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. They are flammable.
2. They are readily available.
3. They are the cheap waste product gas gasoline refining.
2007-09-07 08:05:32 · answer #7 · answered by Christopher H 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
1) They are still in relative abundance, and can be distilled from crude oil.
2) Their products - water and carbon dioxide - are relatively harmless.
3) High energy density.
You caught me out there!
2007-09-07 08:10:38 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because they burn and have a reasonably high calorific value-in other words, you can get a fair bit of energy from them.
2007-09-07 08:11:06 · answer #9 · answered by tomsp10 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cheap
Effective
Compatible with most current combustion systems
2007-09-07 08:11:41 · answer #10 · answered by paynee89 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They burn easily
Don't forget our favorite alkyne: acetelyne
It burns quite well also
2007-09-07 08:03:41 · answer #11 · answered by dogsafire 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋