1 During the Gulf War, a few years back, tens of thousands of seabirds were killed due to oil spills. Do
you know what makes crude oil on ocean water so deadly?
2. Crude oil is not used in the same state it is produced at the off-shore wells. It is converted in
refineries into a wide range of products such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel oils, and
petrochemical feed-stocks. Before it is refined, the oil also contains potentially fatal components.
3. Crude oil is made up of compounds of carbon and hydrogen called hydrocarbons. These
hydrocarbons may be paraffin - the oil that is used as fuel in heaters and lamps, or cycloparaffins
(naphthenic), or aromatic compounds, in varying proportions. While crude oil found in the US is mostly
paraffinic, that found along the Gulf Coast are naphthenic, which contain sulphur compounds in
varying amounts, a small amount of nitrogen and very little oxygen. Every variety of crude oil has
nickel and vanadium in high concentration. Iron may be found in organic form due to the corrosion of
pipes. Paraffin like methane and ethane are asphyxiates; Substances that cause suffocation.
4. The effects of cycloparaffins are more or less similar to those of the paraffin but unsaturated paraffin
are more noxious than the saturated ones. The sulphur present in crude oil may be toxic. The
mechanism of toxic action seems to involve its breakdown to hydrogen sulphide. They will act
primarily on the nervous system with death, resulting mainly from respiratory paralysis. Sulphur in the
form of aromatic thiophenes, benzothiophenes can damage the livers and kidneys of sea animals.
Sulphur compounds like mercaptans can be very dangerous too.
On the basis of your reading of the above passage, answer the following questions: 1x8 = 8
(a) How were Thousands of sea birds killed?
(b) What are the primary components of crude oil?
(c) What is Paraffin is used for?
(d) What is the effect of the Sulphur on sea animals?
(e) What does every variety of crude oil contain in excess?
(f) Asphyxiates cause death by ______________
(g) The word ‘refined’ means _____________
(i) pure (ii) impure
(iii) Fine (iv) nice
(h) Sulphur compounds like ______________ can be dangerous too.
i) carbon ii) hydrogen iii) mercaptans iv) none of the above
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how were thousand of sea birds killed due to because of poisons
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