Oil
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*It can be squeezed out of whales (this always kills the whale) | *It can be squeezed out of whales (this always kills the whale) | ||
*It can be squeezed out of babies (this always kills the baby). | *It can be squeezed out of babies (this always kills the baby). | ||
| + | *It can be squeezed out of velvet mites (Trombidiidae) for [[unani]] but you don't get much.<ref>[http://tariquesani.net/blog/2005/07/01/the-new-bride/ Bir Bahuti]</ref> | ||
*It can be squeezed out of the ground (the ground often recovers) | *It can be squeezed out of the ground (the ground often recovers) | ||
*It can be synthesized in a laboratory or factory when special formulations are needed or purities or qualities not refinable from rock, plant, or animal oil are required. | *It can be synthesized in a laboratory or factory when special formulations are needed or purities or qualities not refinable from rock, plant, or animal oil are required. | ||
Revision as of 18:54, 15 September 2014
Oil is a slippery and flammable liquid. Primarily, oils are composed of long chain hydrocarbons and are non-polar, making them non-soluble in, and less dense than, water. Hence, oils will float on top of good old H2O.
Contents |
Sources
Oil can come from many sources:
- The off seas
AmericanMiddle Eastern Oil Reserves, mainly in thecountrymonarchy called Saudi Arabia. - It can be squeezed out of plants (this often kills the plant)
- It can be squeezed out of whales (this always kills the whale)
- It can be squeezed out of babies (this always kills the baby).
- It can be squeezed out of velvet mites (Trombidiidae) for unani but you don't get much.[1]
- It can be squeezed out of the ground (the ground often recovers)
- It can be synthesized in a laboratory or factory when special formulations are needed or purities or qualities not refinable from rock, plant, or animal oil are required.
Uses
Plant-based oils are often used for cooking, wood preservation and general waterproofing, and as a base for paint.
Whale oil was used heavily in the past, and through the 19th century, for lamps and heating. This industry led to the near-extinction of many whale species, and resulted in generations of schoolkids forced to read Moby Dick.
Oil that is squeezed out of the ground, also known as "rock oil," "mineral oil," or "petroleum", can be distilled. One of the distillates, kerosene, supplanted whale oil in the late 19th century -- and was itself supplanted by the electric light bulb. Fortunately for the oil producers, other distillates (such as gasoline and diesel oil) had other uses, and have given humankind a good hundred years of cheap energy. Of course, liberating this energy requires burning the petroleum distillate with oxygen from the air, which releases carbon dioxide. Since petroleum deposits take millions of years to form[2], when the easy stuff to drill and pump is gone, it's gone forever.
Oils of varying formulations are used extensively as lubricants to reduce wear in machinery and to improve the experience of sex and sex toys. Do not even think of using oil to lubricate a condom, though. Use a water-based lubricant, folks.
Oil can also be used in a crude form of preventative medicine, since a thin slick of oil added to bodies of stagnant water will suffocate mosquito larvae (which could grow up to spread malaria, E3, and itchy bites on babies). This is not practiced as much as it once was, since it also suffocates everything else trying to live in the water.
But how long?
There have been researches, and reports, that none of us will have oil for longer period. It is usually assumed that we will run out of oil in about 10 - 25 years, depending upon the places.[3][4]
Nicknames
- Black gold
- Texas tea
- Bubblin' crude
Other uses of the word
- Operation Iraqi Liberation, or "OIL", was the original (and apt) code name for the 2003 invasion and subsequent continuous occupation of Iraq by the United States.
- Midnight Oil was a band from Australia. Their singer was a Member of Parliament between 2004 and 2013, and was really not very good at it.
- Olive Oyl was Popeye's girlfriend.
- Sulfuric acid used to be called oil of vitriol. Don't use it to lubricate your bearings, though.
See also
- Abiotic oil
- Canola oil
- Coconut oil
- Ethical oil
- Peak oil
- Soy, source of soybean oil
Footnotes
- ↑ Bir Bahuti
- ↑ Despite what abiotic oil advocates would like to believe.
- ↑ 15 Drill-Crazy Countries That Are Rapidly Running Out Of Oil
- ↑ Will Natural Gas Replace Oil? - World Future Society