Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Ethane Chemical Formula

Introduction to ethane :
Ethane is an organic compound and it is the second member of alkane. The chemical or molecular formula of ethane is  C2H6. Ethane is an aliphatic saturated hydrocarbon. C2H6, the chemical formula of ethane was created synthetically by Michael Faraday in the year 1834. It was formed by the electrolysis of potassium acetate. The name ethane is derived from tther ( diethyl ether). The molar mass of ethane is 30.07g. Ethane is a colorless, odorless, and a flammable gas at standard temperature and pressure.  The melting point and boiling point of ethane are -181.76˚ and -89˚C respectively.   The 3D structure of ethane whose chemical formula is C2H6 .

Bonding of Ethane


There are two carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms present in ethane. Both the carbon atoms are sp3 hybridized, so there will be overlapping of 8 sp3 orbitals, 2 from 2 carbon atoms and 6 from 6 hydrogen atoms, so the bond between two carbon atoms is the sigma bond.
The bond length between two carbon atoms is 154pm and between hydrogen and carbon is 110pm. The bond angle is 111.17˚.

Production of ethane:
Ethane is obtained by the separation method from methane by liquefying it at cryogenic temperatures.
The fractionating column is as shown below, ethane is obtained by heating crude oil in the furnace, then it is fed to the fractionating column. In fractionating column, the substances which have lowest boiling point can be extracted first. So, the gases of hydrocarbon from C1 to C4 which contains ethane escapes out at 20˚C. Similarly,  the number of hydrocarbons can be according to their boiling point.

Chemical Reactions of Ethane:

Chemical reactions of C2H6:
  • Halogenation of ethane:
Ethane reacts with halogens like chlorine, halogen substituted ethane will form.
H3C-CH3  + Cl2 ===> CH3-CH2-Cl + HCl.
  • Reduction of ethane:
Ethane undergoes reduction in presence of Zinc dust which acts as catalyst gives ethene.
H3C-CH3 ===> H2C=CH2
Uses of Ethane:
Ethane has wide applications, few of them are as follows
  • It is used to produce ethylene gas from steam cracking.
  • It is used as a fuel and also used as refrigerant.
  • It is used in bath soaks and was also used in gasing whales in world war II

No comments:

Post a Comment