Question

What are saturated hydrocarbons?please answer so that a 8th child could understand

Answer 1

They only contain single bonds.

Explanation:

Hydrocarbons contain hydrogen and carbon atoms ONLY.

There are always 4 bonds from each carbon atom and one from each hydrogen atom.

Therefore `CH_4` is a saturated hydrocarbon. There is a whole series of such compounds that share a general formula of `C_nH_(2n+2)`. These are known as the alkanes. Therefore `C_6H_14` would be a member of this series.

Hydrocarbons make useful fuels when combusted.