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This lesson covers complete and incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons as required by the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science specification (1SC0). You need to be able to write equations, describe the products of each type of combustion, and explain the dangers of incomplete combustion.
Combustion means burning. When a hydrocarbon burns in air (or oxygen), it is an exothermic reaction — energy is released to the surroundings as heat and light.
Hydrocarbons are used as fuels because they release a large amount of energy when they combust.
Complete combustion occurs when there is plenty of oxygen available. The hydrocarbon reacts fully with oxygen to produce only two products:
hydrocarbon + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water
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