Ethene, colorless, slightly sweet-smelling gas with formula H2C=CH2 (C2H4). It is an alkene produced by the crackling and fractional distillation of petroleum and from natural gas. Ethene is very reactive and readily forms many products, such as ethyl chloride and polyethylene. It is used to color and ripen fruits.
Since ethene is small, a non-polar molecule, insoluble in water and a highly flammable gas, the only attraction forces between its molecules are dispersion forces. Hence ethene has a very low boiling temperature of -103.8°C. The presence of a double bond in the ethene molecule has a significant effect on its chemical properties as it can create a single bond between its carbons (that share a double bond) and share the other bond with another ion. As a result, ethene reacts more freely, promptly and with more chemicals than ethane which contains only single bonds. The reactions of ethene usually involve addition of a small molecule to produce a single product. An example is of this is hydrolysis. This process is the addition of water (in the form of steam) to an alkene to give an alcohol. The reaction requires a high tempe
Both have had an addition reaction, which converts the double bond between the carbons to a single bond hence leaving a lone pair in the carbon to add further monomers.
Both natural gas and petroleum are chemically composed principally with hydrocarbons. It has however a few sulfur-containing and oxygen-containing compounds usually present (between 0.1% and 5%). Hence petroleum is considered an alkane.
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