How are products from oil obtained and used?
How are products from oil obtained and used? Crude oil is a vital substance used frequently in our everyday lives. However we are all aware that oil is being used faster than it can be produced and that there are only scarce amounts left. The question is how can we make these products last as long as possible and what are the alternatives? Crude oil is a fossil fuel, made naturally from decaying plants and animals living in ancient seas millions of years ago. It is usually found under the ground and under the sea in certain parts of the world such as the Middle East and Texas, in the USA. Although crude oil is very important substance, the oil itself has no direct use, so has to be refined. The first step in the refinery of crude oil is fractional distillation. Fractional distillation is used to separate fractions such as gasoline, bitumen, kerosene, petroleum, fuel oil, etc from crude oil. During fractional distillation the crude oil is split into a variety of fractions, during the process each fraction of the crude oil will evaporate and can therefore be collected by condensing it. This means that if you know the certain boiling points of each fraction you can separate the certain substance you need. The process begins in the oil refinery. In the oil refinery the crude oil is heated to turn the oil in to a vapour; it is then fed into the bottom of the fractionating
Why is Aluminium utilised in the contemporary world, for the construction of aircraft and rockets, more so than other metals and substances?
Why is Aluminium utilised in the contemporary world, for the construction of aircraft and rockets, more so than other metals and substances? Aluminium is used extravagantly in the contemporary world, primarily due to its unique structure and desirable properties. Further, aluminium is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust; thus, scarcity is not a problem. It is a member of the Boron group of chemical elements, and is ‘the most widely used non-ferrous metal’ (Planet Ark, 2010). It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is necessary to consider the fact that ‘pure aluminium is not often used as it has poor mechanical properties. It is usually alloyed with other metals or silicon’ (Chemical Industry Education Centre, 2011). A key area in which aluminium alloys are utilised is for the construction of aircraft and rockets. Aircraft manufacturers use high-strength aluminium alloys for the construction of aircraft and rockets. This is because aluminium (the predominant element of the alloy) is able to be compounded with other metals and substances, is highly malleable, resistant to corrosion and consists of a high strength to density ratio, in comparison to other metals. ‘Aluminium is used in virtually all segments of the aircraft, missile and spacecraft industry-in airframes, engines, accessories, and tankage for liquid fuel and oxidizers’
