What are they?

Hydrocarbons are a type of organic compounds consisting only of Carbon and Hydrogen.$^1$

Types

There are two types of Hydrocarbons:$^1$

Saturated Hydrocarbons

Saturated hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons that only contain single bonds between each of the carbon atoms.$^1$

Examples:

Methane

Methane

Propane

Propane

Saturated hydrocarbons are also called as alkanes.$^1$

The general formula for alkanes is: $^1$

$$ \text{C}n\text{H}{2n+2} $$

$n$ is known as the carbon number.$^1$

Unsaturated Hydrocarbons

Alkenes

These kind of unsaturated Hydrocarbons have a double bond between two of the Carbon atoms and single bonds between the rest.$^1$

Examples:

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Ethene($\text{C}_2\text{H}_4$)

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Butene($\text{C}_4\text{H}_8$)

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2-Butene($\text{C}_4\text{H}_8$)

The second two compounds have the same formula, but have different molecular structure. This means that they have different properties.$^1$ They have different names, naming will be covered later.