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What is the Structural Formula of Kerosene?

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Structural Formula of Kerosene

The chemical composition depends on the source. The chemical composition also usually consists of about 10 different hydrocarbons each containing 10 to 16 carbon atoms per molecule. Kerosene is the petroleum distillate and also includes the fractions with boiling points between the 150-degree Celsius and 300-degree celsius. The formula of Kerosene is C12H26−C15H32.


What is a Chemical Formula?

A Chemical Formula is any of the several kinds of expressions of the composition or the structure of Chemical compounds. The forms that are commonly encountered are either empirical, molecular, structural as well as projection formulas. 


An empirical formula always consists of symbols representing the elements in a compound like the Na for Sodium and the Cl for Chlorine and subscripts indicating the relative number of the atoms of each constituent element. A subscript is never used until the number is more than one. 


Therefore benzene is represented by the empirical formula CH, which also indicates that the typical sample of the compound contains one atom of carbon to one atom of hydrogen. Carbon is represented as C and hydrogen is represented as H. 


Water is therefore represented by the empirical formula H2O, denoting the substance containing two atoms of hydrogen for every oxygen. 


What is a General Formula?

A general formula type is the type of empirical formula that represents the composition of any member of the entire class of the compounds.  Each and every member of the class of the paraffin hydrocarbons is an example composed of hydrogen as well as carbon. The number of hydrogen atoms always being two or more than twice the number of carbon atoms. That n stands for any number and the general formula of this class is hence CnH2n + 2 .


Kerosene as Solvent

As a petroleum based hydrocarbon compound, the Kerosene is found to be miscible with many industrial liquids, hence its use as an Solvent for various activities arises. As the Solvent, Kerosene can also be used to remove other petroleum products from a surface, such as chain grease and also as a lubricant, with less risk of combustion than the other similar hydrocarbons like the gasoline. It can also be able to perform as a cooling agent in the process of manufacturing and treatment of metals.


As a Solvent the compound Kerosene can be used in the ways mentioned below - 

  • One of the famous ways one might have heard that the use of Kerosene is to store the hyper reactive metal like the sodium and the potassium.

  • It is also used as the adhesive remover for the hard to remove mucilage or adhesive especially the one left by the sticker on a glass surface.

  • It is also used to remove the previous lubricant and clean the bicycle and motorcycle chains before the process of re - lubrication.

FAQs on What is the Structural Formula of Kerosene?

1. What is the empirical formula? What is a structural formula?

Empirical formulas are generally used to represent the substance with undetermined molecular structures or substances not made up of normal molecular entities. For example, sodium chloride is table salt which is also composed of ions. To express the chemical composition of an individual molecule of a particular substance then the molecule being the smallest particle in which the substance retains its chemical properties, a molecular formula has been employed. 


A structural formula always identifies the location of the chemical bonds between the atoms of a molecule. A structural formula always consists of the symbols for the atoms connected by the short lines that represent the chemical bonds. The one, two, or three lines standing for the single, double or triple bonds respectively.

2. How glycerol reach the oxalic acid? also, Write what is a projection formula? 

When the glycerol is heated with the oxalic acid at the temperature of 100 to 110 degrees celsius then formic acid is produced as one of the products and the elimination of water. At the higher temperature of 260 degrees Celsius to 280-degree Celsius, the oxalic acid, as well as the glycerol, reacts with each other to produce allyl alcohol which is also produced via the decarboxylation and the elimination of water. 


A projection formula is a two-dimensional representation of what actually is a three-dimensional molecule. Such a formula resembles the structural type in that it consists of symbols representing the atoms of constituent elements connected to each other by the dashes or the curves that stand for the chemical bonds. Therefore the methane molecule is characterised by a tetrahedral disposition of the four chemical bonds that take around the carbon atom. This is conveniently represented by the projection formula.

3. What is the difference between the molecular and structural formula? 

Let us discuss some of the major differences between the molecular and structural formula of a compound.

  • Molecular formula or the chemical formula, represents the type of elements (or atoms of different elements) present and the amount those atoms present in that particular compound, while in the structural formula of a substance not only tells about the type and quantity of the atoms present in that particular compound but also the spatial arrangement of those atoms present in them.

  • Molecular formula is used for the nomenclature of simple compounds and/or to determine if the compound is binary, ternary, quaternary and so on. On the other hand, the structural formula is used for the nomenclature of the complex molecule and also to predict the chemical properties of that specific compound. 

  • Molecular formulae can only be traced on the molecular level but the structural formula is traced on the structural level of the compound.

4. What are some of the real applications of kerosene? explain them

Kerosene is a type of fossil fuel obtained from the petroleum, so primarily it is used for the sole purpose of getting energy by burning the kerosene oil. One can not forget its contribution as the fuel for aviation. For heating and lighting, the heating oil (variant of kerosene) is widely used in the lanterns and kerosene lamps, majorly in the developing countries. In some countries like Nigeria and India, Kerosene oil is still widely used for the purpose of  cooking mainly by backward class (poor) of the society. 


Kerosene is also used as solvent for the many industrial liquids and is also known as used to remove other petroleum products from a surface. It can be used as a cooling agent in production and treatment of various metals.

5. Write a short note regarding kerosene oil?

Kerosene oil is also known as the paraffin, or lamp oil and is a flammable hydrocarbon liquid commonly used as a fuel. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Kerosene typically has a pale yellow colour or it might be colourless and also have a not-unpleasant characteristic odour.


It was said to be first discovered by a Canadian physician named Abraham Gesner in the 1840s and was initially manufactured by the shale oils and coal tar. But after the first well drilling in Pennsylvania by E.L. Drake in the year 1859, petroleum became the primary source of Kerosene. And after that it remained a major refinery product for several decades until the advent of the electric lamps and also the unprecedented rise in the automobile established gasoline as the more important petroleum product. But still nowadays, it is a pretty important fuel for various industries and around various parts of the globe. One of such is the aviation industry in which the kerosene plays a crucial role till this day, though there are efforts to replace this fuel with some other more environmentally friendly fuel. You can get more information on Kerosene from Vedantu which provides excellent and reliable information on Kerosene, its structural formula, and properties.