A compound burns with a sooty flame. Is saturated or unsaturated in nature?
Answers
Answer:
Organic compounds mostly contain carbon and hydrogen. Both of them burn in air to form carbon dioxide and water respectively. If the combustion is complete this means that all the carbon atoms present in the compound have completely reacted to form carbon dioxide. In case, the flame is sooty, this means that the combustion is incomplete and there are unburnt carbon particles. Now, saturated compound like hexane has more hydrogen atoms as compared to hexene which is unsaturated in nature. Both have 6 carbon atoms in their molecules. Hexane will require more air or oxygen for complete combustion than hexene. Thus, we may conclude that generally a saturated compound is more likely to burn with sooty flame as compared to unsaturated compound.