what sorts of compounds make up crude oil?
816034
All hydrocarbons.  They start with gaseous methane (CH4) dissolved in the oily liquid, then through heavier dissolved gases with 2 to 5 carbon atoms per molecule, then liquids with every posible number of carbon atoms per molecule from 6 (benzene) to 8 (octane) to scores and scores, then waxes (the stuff of Vaseline) which have up to hundreds.  Sometimes there are sulphur-based impurities.\n\nRefining the oil is the process of separating the different weights of components.  Car and aeroplane fuel is roughly from C6 to C10, diesel fuel is heavier, and heating oils and lubricating oils are heaviest.
903573
the density keeps on varying \n\nfor eg this \n\n\nThe density of crude oil varies, depending upon the amount of heavy and light components. Typical values, in Kg per cubic meter are:\n\n    * Mexican crude oil 973\n    * Texas crude oil 873\n    * Gasoline 737\n    * Kerosene 817\n    * Diesel 840\n    * Automobile oil 880 - 940\n    * Pure water (at 4°C) 1000
651742
It takes seven gallons of crude oil to produce one car tire.\n\nIt takes 3.6 billion gallons of crude oil to produce tires for all of the cars in the U.S.
1084683
Distillation is distillation.\n\nFractional distillation makes distinct steps up the fractionating column where the distillate is chosen for it's specific properties.\n\nThe distillation of crude oil is a classic example.\n\nYou start off low down with heavy oils. Higher up you get petrols and then higher you get alcohols etc up and up to some pretty exotic stuff, all highly flammable and carcinogenic!!!
1160750
Fungicides and pesticides are used.  Although not part of petroleum, they are probably made in a series of steps from a petroleum base.  Almost all synthesised organic compounds are made from petroleum feeds.
1642
The main products still are carbon dioxide and water, together with carbon monoxide and various substances collectively referred to as soot. Soot basically is the attempt to form graphitic carbon in the flame finished before a sufficient quantity has formed to create crystals. Substances in soot usually are polycyclical aromatic compounds, or heterocyclical compounds like furanes.\n\nIn the case of impure fuels, additional side products can be found. Presence of halogens leads to formation of dioxines and similar compounds. Presence of sulfur leads to all kind of noxious substances. Etc.\n\nIncomplete combustion doesn't provide well-defined reactions.
40288
Triglyceride is a naturally occuring ester of glycerol and three fatty acids which makes up a triglyceride oil. (An ester is an organic compound formed from an acid and alcohol, R-CO2-R').
567837
gasoline\nkerosene\njet fuel\nasphalt\nwaxes & paraffin\nmotor/ lubricating oil\nplastics\nresins\npaint thinner & paints\nMTBE - a gasoline oxygenate\nmakeup \nvaseline\nfood preservatives and additives\ncarbon black for tires\ncrude oil contains natural gas liquids - propane, butane...\ndiamondoids\npesticides\nfertilizer\n\noil is one of the most versatile natural resources on the planet.
932845
acid\ngas naphtha\noxygen  and hydrogen\nacid\nacid
101795
Oil\nwood\nleaves\nmethane\njust about any vegetation\nfat (like whale oil or blubber)\nnatural gas\ncoal\ntar\npeat (actually a form of coal)\nalcohol (from fermented vegetation or nectar)\netc
82156
gasoline is obtained from the fractional distillation of crude oil.  It is therefore a hydrocarbon.  It is evaporated and mixed with air and forced into the cylinder where it burns.  When the C--C and C--H bonds are broken, energy is required but then more eneryg (than is required to break these bonds) are given off on the formation of H--OH (water) and O--C--O (carbon dioxide)bonds.  This is the thermal energy that causes the burned gas in the cylinder to expand thus forcing the piston away from the spark-plug end, causing the engine to "run"
414562
2-methylheptane\n3-methylheptane \n4-methylheptane \n\n2,2-dimethylhexane \n2,3-dimethylhexane \n2,4-dimethylhexane \n2,5-dimethylhexane \n3,3-dimethylhexane \n3,4-dimethylhexane \n3-ethylhexane \n\n2,2,3-trimethylpentane \n2,2,4-trimethylpentane \n2,3,3-trimethylpentane \n2,3,4-trimethylpentane \n3-ethyl-2-methylpentane \n3-ehtyl-3-methylpentane\n\n2,2,3,3-tetramethylbutan\noops n octane
313451
Distillation is a process by which a mixture of compounds is separated based on boiling point differences.  Crude oil is a mixture of many different organic molecules, which come in a wide range of molecular weights, which, in turn, leads to differences in boiling point.  So refineries take advantage of this by using many distillation processes in series.  One column operating at a relatively low temperature might separate waxes from more volatile compounds.  Another column, operating at a higher temperature, would separate light alkanes like propane and butane from heavier ones like hexane, heptane and octane.  Each of these streams might then go on to another distillation column or to some other method of separation.\n\nOn any given column, the distillate is the ligher, vapor stream exiting at the top of the column.  The liquid stream exiting at the bottom is called the bottoms.
41390
Gasoline\ndiesel\nairplane fuel\nbunker oil (powers ships)\nplastics:\n     nylon, styrene (styrofoam), acrylic, etc.\nthousands of products made from plastic\nrubber (tires, shoes)\nasphalt (road surfaces, roofing materials)\nink\ndetergent\naspirin\nantihistamines\nadhesives\nshampoo\ncomputer chip boards\nfiber-optic cable \nelectrical insulation\n\nBy products that also come out of oil wells:\nnatural gas, (used for fuel and manufacture of fertilizers and plastics)\nparaffin wax\npropane fuel\nbutane fuel
1057125
Crude oil is composed of a mix of molecules composed of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen atoms in many different forms. These can range from simple compounds like methane (CH4) or ethane (C2H6) to long complicated molecules such as paraffins like C8H18, also known as octane that is used to rate motor fuels. \n\nThe initial source of the crude oil is the accumulation of the dead bodies of phytoplankton and zooplankton which are microscopic plants and animals that live in the sea and fresh water lakes. Adding to this organic matter that accumulates on the sea floor is the material that is carried into the ocean by rivers, such as pollen, spores, and plant material. To be preserved, all of this organic matter must fall into a zone of the water that is low in oxygen, otherwise it will decay rather than be preserved. Mud and silt coming from rivers will often bury this material before it can be consumed by living organisms. Near the mouths of rivers there are often rapid rates of deposition of mud and silt that will bury organic material, and over time it may be buried by several miles of sediment. For example, the Mississippi River Delta, which is a prolific oil producing area, has deposited sediments several miles thick over the last 66 million years. \n\nAs these deposits of organic matter are buried deeper and deeper they begin to warm from the heat of the earth's interior. When they reach a temperature of about 140 degrees F, they begin to undergo "catagenesis" which is a molecular change that makes oil. If they reach a temperature of about 250 degree F, they will begin to form more natural gas than oil. If they get too hot it is possible to change them to graphite, and no oil or gas will be produced. \n\nIn other types of depositional environments the plants and animals that become oil also form the rock. Carbonate mudstone (which is simply a type of limestone) of the Hanifa Formation in the Middle East formed much of the oil in Saudi Arabia. These carbonate mudstones  are composed of huge accumulations of lime muds made from the breakdown of marine algaes and other organisms. These deposits of the remains of marine organisms also must undergo burial and and heating by the deep earth to generate oil and gas. \n\nSo when you burn oil, you are really burning solar energy that was stored by plants and animals thousands or millions of years ago and buried in the earth. \n\nEvery time I answer this question someone comes along and points out that there may be oil that is not from living organisms. Thomas Gold, a respected physicist at Cornell proposed that oil may be abiotic; that is just another type of deposit of the earth. This may in fact be possible, but if it is, it is likely to be a very minor source of the oil on Earth. The reasons are complicated, but the fact that the rocks where Gold predicted this abiotic oil should be found do not contain oil is pretty conclusive proof that this type of oil is not significant, if it exists at all. \n\nHere is my previous answer to this question:\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=AqkzP9amgCudYabOz20w2YIjzKIX?qid=1006022109950
157082
Specifically: water, pyridine, squalene, urea, acetic acid, lactic acid, complex alcohols and glycols, ketones, and aldehydes.
911003
As Petroleum processing is nothing but refining Crude Oil in stages,that is mostly concerned with Distillation.Chemistry plays its main role providing details like boiling point,density,viscosity and other physical properties of the individual compounds which is extracted separately at each level of distillation column, though the process is chemical engineering.