Final answer:
Petroleum, in the strictest sense, includes only hydrocarbons, which are compounds solely of carbon and hydrogen. It is a liquid fossil fuel and can be converted to various products, primarily consisting of medium to large hydrocarbons.
Step-by-step explanation:
In its strictest sense, petroleum includes only hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen atoms. They are fundamental to organic chemistry and can be found in different forms including gases, liquids, and solids. Small hydrocarbons like methane and ethane are gases at room temperature, mid-sized ones such as hexane and octane are liquids, and even larger hydrocarbons are solids with a soft, waxy consistency. This denotes that petroleum, in a liquid state, is mainly comprised of medium to large hydrocarbons.
Petroleum is often referred to as a fossil fuel and is categorized as a liquid, which can be converted to various products such as gasoline through processes like distillation. When considering the three forms of fossil fuels: solid (coal), liquid (petroleum or oil), and gas (natural gas), it's clear that petroleum is the liquid state fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons.