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Are alkanes liquid at room temperature?

Answer 1

Absolutely not! Some are, but methane is a room temperature gas.

The physical state of an alkane (of ANY substance) depends on the degree of intermolecular force. Small chain alkanes have minimal degrees of intermolecular attraction. They are thus gases. As the chain gets longer, intermolecular attraction becomes greater and liquids can be obtained at normal temperature and pressures. From memory, butane, #n-C_4H_10# has a boiling point of approx. #0# #""^@#, whereas n-hexane has a boiling point of approx. #69# #""^@#.

As the carbon chain gets very long, the physical state of the alkane becomes oily and waxy, but even #n-C_10H_24# is a room temperature liquid.

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Answer 2

Ryan Andrews

Not necessarily. Alkanes with smaller carbon chains, like methane, ethane, propane, and butane, are gases at room temperature, while alkanes with larger carbon chains, like pentane, hexane, heptane, and octane, are liquids at room temperature.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.