Question

Chemical reaction between petrol and thermocol

Answer 1

Thermocol is made of polystyrene, which is a long chain of carbons that has a phenyl (benzene, C6H5) group coming attached to every other carbon (so on carbon 1,3,5 etc.). It's molecular formula is (C8H8)n, where n is a big number since it's a polymer (many molecules chained together). 

Petrol (gasoline) is mixture of hydrocarbons with the formula C(n)H(2n+2). Usually the molecules have 8 carbons (or so), so we can just say its formula is C8H18. 

So when petrol and thermocol mix, no reaction happens. BUT, the thermocol will dissolve in the petrol. 

Try it- the packing foam that comes in many delivery boxes is made of polystyrene. When they fall into a cup of petrol, it looks like they're melting. But they're really just dissolving.

Answer 2

Thermocol is dissolved by petrol

Explanation:

Thermocol is a polystyrene denoted by the molecular formula (C8H8)n. It is a long chain of carbons that has a phenyl (Benzene, C6H5) attached to every other carbon. n denotes the huge number of molecules chained together.  

Petrol is mixture of hydrocarbons denoted by the formula C(n)H(2n+2), example C8H18. 

So when petrol and thermocol mix, there is no actual reaction happening. Instead, the thermocol just dissolves in petrol.

Example: Packing foam that comes with many of the appliance deliveries are made of polystyrene. When we put these foams into petrol, you can see that it just dissolves in petrol.