Question

Natural gas consists of:
A) Methane, ethane, propane and ethylene.
B) Butane, propane and ethane.
C) Pentene, methane and ethylene.
D) Hexane, butane and ethane.

Answer 1

Hint: The answer to this question is dependent on the fact that natural gas is the one naturally occurring and the main gas in it is the very simpler hydrocarbon. This fact can give you the required answer.

Complete Solution :
We are familiar with some of the naturally occurring substances, gases and also some of the liquids along with the man made or at least naturally occurring substances that are modified by man.
Now, we shall see what the natural gas is and also its corresponding composition.
- Basically natural gas is the one occurring naturally as the name itself says.
- Natural gas is mainly composed of maximum parts of simpler hydrocarbons and this is nothing but methane which is the very simple hydrocarbon existing in organic chemistry.
- Along with methane there are several other gases with it. In the given options, pentene and hexane exist naturally as liquid and not in gaseous state and hence the options C) and D) are ruled out.
In option A) and B) butane is a colourless gas which also occurs in the natural gas.
But since natural gas is mainly composed of methane, the option B) is ruled out as it does not have methane in it. So, the correct answer is “Option A”.

Note: Note that the natural gas is a non - renewable hydrocarbon which is used as energy for cooking and other purposes and it contains significant amount of ethane, propane, butane and pentane and also non – hydrocarbons like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulphide and helium (rarely).