Hamid Reza.M
مدیر بازنشسته
Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Oil:
We all complain about the high price of oil: businessmen worry about the rising cost of petroleum-based raw materials, and politicians fret about the geo-political situations in oil rich countries and the rest of us pay through the nose whenever we fill up at the pump (yes, it has come down a bit, but only after such a huge run-up).
But what do we really know about oil? Do you know where petroleum came from? (hint: not dinosaurs). Or that during the early days of Standard Oil, gasoline was so useless that it was dumped in rivers? Did you know how much it actually costs the Saudis to produce a barrel of crude oil? (This explains why they're SO rich).
Here are the 10 Facts You Didn't Know About Oil:
1. Petroleum = Rock Oil
The word petroleum comes from the Greek word "petros" and the Latin word "oleum" meaning "rock" and "oil". Before "petroleum" was coined by German mineralogist Georg Bauer in 1556, people simply called it "rock oil."
Indeed, the Chinese, who had drilled the world's first oil well in 347 AD (a 800 feet or 240 m deep pit using bits attached to bamboo poles), called it - and still calls it - shi you, which literally means rock oil.
2. "Fossil Fuel" Came From Dinosaurs, Right?
Photo: Osborn, H.F. (1913) It's common knowledge that oil came from decomposing dead dinosaurs and plant matters (after all, it is called "fossil fuel," right?) - but that's actually wrong. Though most scientists believed that oil has a biological origin, they don't believe that oil came from dinosaurs. They thought that oil was derived from single-celled planktons that flourished, died and then decomposed hundreds of millions of years ago.
Some scientists (mostly Russian and Ukrainian geologists) believe that oil wasn't produced from any living thing at all. This abiogenic petroleum origin hypothesis claims that oil was formed from deep carbon deposits dating from as early as the formation of Earth. If that sounds kooky to you, just know this: one of the proponents of this theory was Dmitri Mendeleev (yes, the guy who invented the periodic table of elements).
(If you're interested, Cecil Adams talked about this at The Straight Dope)
3. Ancient Uses of Petroleum
Greek Fire, from the Skylitzes manuscript Humans have been using petroleum products for a long time. Asphalt was used in ancient Babylon as mortar for buildings and for waterproofing ships. Tar was first used in 8th century Baghdad to pave roads. Crude forms of kerosene was used to light lamps.
During the reign of the Byzantine Empire, greek fire - an incendiary weapon which exact formula was long lost to history but thought to contain various petroleum products - was a formidable weapon because pouring water on it only intensified its flame.
4. Love the Whales? Thank Petroleum!
In the 19th century, high demand for whale oil for industrial uses fueled the whaling industry. Indeed, whale oil was widely used for lamp illuminants (whale oil burned slowly without any odor), candle wax, and clock lubricants.
Whale oil was used as a glaze for early photographs, and it was an essential ingredient for pharmaceuticals, soap, varnish and cosmetics (whale oil imparts a "rich glossy sheen").
Thanks to petroleum distillation, however, the demand for whale oil dropped significantly until there's no longer any economic reason to go whaling. Indeed, commercial whaling was completely banned in 1986.
One final note: there is one thing that we still use whale oil for and that's space exploration. NASA found out that sperm whale oil does not freeze even in very cold temperatures (like in outer space), thus making it an ideal lubricant for space probes.
We all complain about the high price of oil: businessmen worry about the rising cost of petroleum-based raw materials, and politicians fret about the geo-political situations in oil rich countries and the rest of us pay through the nose whenever we fill up at the pump (yes, it has come down a bit, but only after such a huge run-up).
But what do we really know about oil? Do you know where petroleum came from? (hint: not dinosaurs). Or that during the early days of Standard Oil, gasoline was so useless that it was dumped in rivers? Did you know how much it actually costs the Saudis to produce a barrel of crude oil? (This explains why they're SO rich).
Here are the 10 Facts You Didn't Know About Oil:
1. Petroleum = Rock Oil
The word petroleum comes from the Greek word "petros" and the Latin word "oleum" meaning "rock" and "oil". Before "petroleum" was coined by German mineralogist Georg Bauer in 1556, people simply called it "rock oil."
Indeed, the Chinese, who had drilled the world's first oil well in 347 AD (a 800 feet or 240 m deep pit using bits attached to bamboo poles), called it - and still calls it - shi you, which literally means rock oil.
2. "Fossil Fuel" Came From Dinosaurs, Right?
Photo: Osborn, H.F. (1913)
Some scientists (mostly Russian and Ukrainian geologists) believe that oil wasn't produced from any living thing at all. This abiogenic petroleum origin hypothesis claims that oil was formed from deep carbon deposits dating from as early as the formation of Earth. If that sounds kooky to you, just know this: one of the proponents of this theory was Dmitri Mendeleev (yes, the guy who invented the periodic table of elements).
(If you're interested, Cecil Adams talked about this at The Straight Dope)
3. Ancient Uses of Petroleum
Greek Fire, from the Skylitzes manuscript
During the reign of the Byzantine Empire, greek fire - an incendiary weapon which exact formula was long lost to history but thought to contain various petroleum products - was a formidable weapon because pouring water on it only intensified its flame.
4. Love the Whales? Thank Petroleum!
Whale oil was used as a glaze for early photographs, and it was an essential ingredient for pharmaceuticals, soap, varnish and cosmetics (whale oil imparts a "rich glossy sheen").
Thanks to petroleum distillation, however, the demand for whale oil dropped significantly until there's no longer any economic reason to go whaling. Indeed, commercial whaling was completely banned in 1986.
One final note: there is one thing that we still use whale oil for and that's space exploration. NASA found out that sperm whale oil does not freeze even in very cold temperatures (like in outer space), thus making it an ideal lubricant for space probes.