Uses of alkanes

Alkanes find a range of practical uses that follow directly from their physical state and chain length. The first four alkanes (methane through butane), being gases at room temperature, are used mainly as fuel for heating and cooking -- for example as LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas). CNG, along with petrol and diesel (both alkane-rich liquid fuel blends), powers automobiles. Lower liquid alkanes serve as solvents. Very long-chain alkanes, with more than about 35 carbon atoms (broadly, tar), are used for road surfacing because of their high molecular weight and correspondingly high melting point and viscosity. Waxes -- themselves high-molecular-weight alkanes -- are used as lubricants and are also the raw mate …