Q2gulfofmexico

Q2.what chemicals were involed(include chemical formulae or chemical sumbols)and why are they bad for the enviroment and people ?what are the chemicals used for?

Crude oil is made from the following elements or compounds.


 * **Carbon ** - 84%
 * **Hydrogen ** - 14%
 * **Sulfur ** - 1 to 3% (hydrogen sulfide, sulfides, disulfides, elemental sulfur)
 * **Nitrogen ** - less than 1% (basic compounds with amine groups)
 * **Oxygen ** - less than 1% (found in organic compounds such as carbon dioxide, phenols, ketones, carboxylic acids)
 * **Metals ** - less than 1% (nickel, iron, vanadium, copper, arsenic)
 * **Salts ** - less than 1% (sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride

When the mexican gulf oil spill started 4.9 million barels were spilt onto the enviroment. Crude oil can affect the enviroment in many ways one of these ways is by oil spillages in the ocean that causes the oil to spread out ever the surface of the water which leads to the deaths of hundreads of marine life. a good example of this is when you see the pictures of the birds covered in the black thick oil on their feathers which prevents them from flying. If they try and get into the water they will sink because their feathers are too heavy with the layer of oil on top of them.

Crude oils are such a useful starting point for so many different substances because they contain **hydrocarbons**. Hydrocarbons are molecules that contain hydrogen and carbon and come in various lengths and structures, from straight chains to branching chains to rings. The diagram below shows the uses of crude oil e.g. petrol for cars.



Question 1 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5