Alkanes
Use this landing page to move quickly between the main alkane revision pages for Edexcel A Level Chemistry Topic 6. These pages cover the origin of alkanes from crude oil, their use as fuels, alternative fuels and the main reactions students need to understand.
Choose an Alkanes Page
Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons with single carbon-carbon bonds. These pages separate the topic into crude oil, fuels, alternative fuels and alkane reactions so that students can revise the source, use and chemical behaviour of alkanes clearly.
Key idea: Alkanes are relatively unreactive saturated hydrocarbons, but they are industrially important as fuels and feedstocks. Their combustion and free-radical substitution reactions are central to this part of Topic 6.
Alkanes from Crude Oil
Revise crude oil as a mixture of hydrocarbons and how fractional distillation separates fractions with different boiling ranges.
Alkanes as Fuel
Learn how alkanes release energy during combustion and compare complete and incomplete combustion products.
Alternative Fuel
Review alternative fuels and compare their advantages, limitations and environmental implications against fossil fuels.
Reactions of Alkanes
Revise the key reactions of alkanes, including combustion and free-radical substitution with halogens under ultraviolet light.
How to Use These Pages
Start with crude oil to understand where alkanes come from and why boiling point trends matter. Then revise alkanes as fuels, compare alternative fuels and finish with alkane reactions. For each page, practise writing equations, interpreting combustion products and explaining reactions using the correct organic chemistry vocabulary.
Exam focus: Be able to describe fractional distillation, explain combustion of alkanes, evaluate alternative fuels and write free-radical substitution steps using correct radicals and equations.
Master Topic 6A/6B Organic Chemistry and Alkanes for Edexcel A Level Chemistry
Continue from these free revision notes into the full Topic 6A/6B Organic Chemistry and Alkanes course for Edexcel A Level Chemistry Paper 2 (9CH0/02), with guided video teaching, diagnostic MCQ practice, teacher-marked short-answer questions and a specification assignment with a personalised progress report.
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Auto-marked MCQ quizzes provide immediate diagnostic feedback for every answer choice.
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Submit written exam responses and receive chemistry specialist feedback with improvement guidance.
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Identify strengths and weaknesses across the full Topic 6A/6B specification with targeted reporting.
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Some ionic radii are shown.
| Ion | Ionic radius / nm |
|---|---|
| Na+ | 0.102 |
| K+ | 0.138 |
| F− | 0.133 |
| Cl− | 0.180 |
Which compound has the strongest ionic bonding?
Explain why the metallic bonding in magnesium is much stronger than that in sodium.
Copyright notice: This revision page, including its written explanations, layout and teaching sequence, is produced for Online Learning System by Dr. Mohammed Al-Fatah. It is intended for student revision and may not be copied, redistributed or republished without permission.