Fractions from crude oil are defined as hydrocarbons separated by what property?

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Multiple Choice

Fractions from crude oil are defined as hydrocarbons separated by what property?

Explanation:
Fractional distillation uses boiling point as the key property. Crude oil is a mixture of many hydrocarbons with a wide range of boiling points. When the mixture is heated, vapors rise through a column where the temperature falls with height. Substances with similar boiling points condense together at roughly the same height, forming a fraction. This is why fractions from crude oil are defined as hydrocarbons with similar boiling points separated from crude oil. They’re not defined by solubility in water or by how reactive they are, and distillation wouldn’t give clean groups if you separated by very different boiling points.

Fractional distillation uses boiling point as the key property. Crude oil is a mixture of many hydrocarbons with a wide range of boiling points. When the mixture is heated, vapors rise through a column where the temperature falls with height. Substances with similar boiling points condense together at roughly the same height, forming a fraction. This is why fractions from crude oil are defined as hydrocarbons with similar boiling points separated from crude oil. They’re not defined by solubility in water or by how reactive they are, and distillation wouldn’t give clean groups if you separated by very different boiling points.

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