What are hydrocarbons made up of?

Hydrocarbons are molecules that are made up of multiple hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a particular order to give materials like petrol, jet fuel etc.

Hydrogen and Carbon

Hydro - hydrogen and Carbons - Carbon

Hydrocarbons are molecules made up of hydrogen and carbon only linked via a covalent bond.

Hydrocarbons are organic (naturally occurring) molecules containing carbon and hydrogen atoms only. The bonds within a hydrocarbon are covalent bonds due to carbon and hydrogen being non-metals. This means electrons are shared between neighbouring atoms. Hydrocarbons are found in crude oil and can be separated into groups of similar chain lengths by fractional distillation. Examples of hydrocarbons include alkanes and alkenes. Hydrocarbons are good sources of fuel such as coal, oil and natural gas.

Hydrogen and carbon atoms only.

Hydrocarbons are molecules and as the name hints or suggests are made up of only Hydrogen ( from the 'Hydro bit' ) and Carbon. The simplest possible hydrocarbon is methane where one carbon atom is bonded or joined onto four hydrogen atoms. Because hydrocarbons can consist of either small, medium or large sized ( long chain ) molecules they may be found naturally occurring in all three physical states ; gases, liquids and solids.

Hydrocarbons are molecules of various lengths consisting of hydrogen and carbon atoms.