🔍 Key Concepts

• Specific heat as a measure of how much heat a substance can absorb per unit mass per degree of temperature rise • Main chemical constituents of fuel oil and their relative proportions • Difference between major components of the fuel vs minor impurities/additives

💭 Think About

• Which component makes up by far the largest percentage of typical fuel oil by mass? • Would a trace impurity or the primary chemical structure of the fuel have a greater effect on specific heat? Why? • Think about what fuel oil is fundamentally made of, chemically, before small amounts of other elements are added or present as impurities.

✅ Before You Answer

• Identify which option represents the bulk chemical makeup of fuel oil, not a minor impurity • Consider which constituent would most directly affect thermal properties like specific heat, rather than corrosion or emissions • Eliminate any components that are typically present only in small (trace) amounts in standard marine fuel oils