With the help of the internet and other resources, please complete the following tasks with respect to
ANY ONE of the following topics:
[10 marks]
A) Information on Contribution of Three Scientists (Any three) in the field of Physics with respect to
their invention/s or Discoveries.
OR
B) Information on Separating the Components of a Mixture with respect to “Refining of Petroleum?
and importance of various fractions.
OR
C) Information on the Biodiversity and Taxonomy (Classification) in different habitats with respect to
"Life in a Coral Reef. Comment on any vulnerable or endangered or extinct species found in these
places.
Answers
Petroleum is a liquid which occurs naturally in rock formations. This consists of a complex mixture of different molecular weights of hydrocarbons, plus other organic compounds. Some petroleum-produced chemical compounds are also obtained from other fossil fuels.
Petrochemicals are produced mainly at a few manufacturing sites around the world. Petroleum is also the raw material for many industrial products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, synthetic fragrances, and plastics
How is Petroleum Formed?
Petroleum is formed from the remains of dead plants and animals.
When plants and animals die, they sink and settle on the seabed.
Millions of years ago, these dead wildlife and vegetation decomposed and got mixed with sand and silt.
Certain bacteria helped in the decomposition of this organic matter and caused some chemical changes.
Matter consisting of largely carbon and hydrogen was left behind. However, as there is not sufficient oxygen at the bottom of the sea, the matter could not decompose completely.
The partially decomposed matter remained on the seabed and eventually was covered with multiple layers of sand and silt.
This burying took millions of years, and finally, due to high temperature and pressure, the organic matter decomposed completely and formed oil.
Petroleum Refining: Petroleum is a mixture of many substances such as gas, petrol, diesel, kerosene, lubricating oil, paraffin wax, etc.
As these constituents serve different purposes, it is important to separate them, or in other words, refine the crude oil. This process of separation of various constituents of petroleum is called petroleum refining.
This is done in oil refineries. It is a three-step process.
The first step is separation where the crude oil is separated into various components through distillation process. The heavier constituents remain settled at the bottom whereas lighter constituents rise up as vapour, or remain liquid.
Next, these constituents, which are still quite heavy are converted into gas, gasoline, and diesel. Thus, the next step is conversion.
These have certain impurities, so the last step is treating, where they are treated to obtain pure forms of various products