Propene on Titan

 Titan, one of Saturn's moons, is very special. It is the only satellite in our solar system that has a fully developed atmosphere.
Hydrocarbons were first detected in the atmosphere of Titan by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft way back in 1980. Titan's atmosphere is made up of 98.4% nitrogen gas and 1.4% methane. Sunlight breaks this methane apart and the fragments then link up to form chains with 2, 3 or more carbon atoms in the chain. Voyager found the presence of propane and propyne, but not propene.

More recently, NASA's Cassini spacecraft's mass spectrometer data suggested that propene might be present in Titan's upper atmosphere, and in 2013, using a form of infrared spectroscopy, propene was indeed found in Titan's atmosphere.

On planet Earth, propene is second only to ethene as a starting product in the petrochemical industry. About two thirds of all the propene produced is used to make the plastic known as polypropene, or polypropylene, which is used widely in packaging materials.

Reference:
C. A. Nixon, D. E. Jennings, B. Bézard, S. Vinatier, N. A. Teanby, K. Sung, T. M. Ansty, P. G. J. Irwin, N. Gorius, V. Cottini, A. Coustenis, F. M. Flasar. DETECTION OF PROPENE IN TITAN'S STRATOSPHERE. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 776 (1): L14 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/776/1/L14

Further Reading
http://ausetute.com.au/namctut1.html
http://ausetute.com.au/namsanes.html
http://ausetute.com.au/namsenes.html
http://ausetute.com.au/namsynes.html
http://ausetute.com.au/members/polymers.html
http://ausetute.com.au/members/polythen.html

Suggested Study Questions:

1. What is meant by the term "hydrocarbon"?
2. Give the molecular formula for each of the following hydrocarbons:
   • methane
   • ethane
   • ethene
   • ethyne
   • propane
   • propene
   • propyne
3. Give the structural formula for each of the following hydrocarbons:
   • methane
   • ethane
   • ethene
   • ethyne
   • propane
   • propene
   • propyne 
4. Propene is used to produce polypropene (polypropylene). Draw a representative section of polypropene.
5. Would you describe the polymerisation of propene as an addition polymerisation or as a condensation polymerisation? Explain your answer.
6. Ethene is used to produce polythene or polyethylene. Draw a representative section of polythene.
7. Would you describe the polymerisation of ethene as an addition polymerisation of as a condensation polymerisation? Explain your answer.
8. Both ethene and propene have been found in Titan's atmosphere. Do you think it is likely that polythene and polypropylene will be found in Titan's atmosphere? Explain your answer.