This is where organic chemistry begins. This video introduces hydrocarbons and focuses on alkanes as the first homologous series — explaining the IUPAC naming system, the general formula, and how to write structural and molecular formulae for the first five alkanes. By the end you'll have the foundations you need for combustion, cracking, and the rest of organic chemistry.

What You Will Learn

00:32What organic chemistry is and why carbon forms the basis of a vast separate naming system.

02:15What hydrocarbons are and why they form a family of compounds studied in GCSE chemistry.

02:35What alkanes are and how they form a homologous series.

04:04Why carbon forms exactly four covalent bonds and how this determines the structure of alkanes.

06:31How the IUPAC naming system uses chain-length prefixes to name the first five alkanes.

07:32How to write the structural formula for each of the first five alkanes.

07:42How to write the molecular formula for each of the first five alkanes.

08:08What the general formula CₙH₂ₙ₊₂ means and how to use it to predict the formula of any alkane.