What is Oil: Definition and 575 Discussions

An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is a viscous liquid at ambient temperatures and is both hydrophobic (does not mix with water, literally "water fearing") and lipophilic (mixes with other oils, literally "fat loving"). Oils have a high carbon and hydrogen content and are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated lipids that are liquid at room temperature.
The general definition of oil includes classes of chemical compounds that may be otherwise unrelated in structure, properties, and uses. Oils may be animal, vegetable, or petrochemical in origin, and may be volatile or non-volatile. They are used for food (e.g., olive oil), fuel (e.g., heating oil), medical purposes (e.g., mineral oil), lubrication (e.g. motor oil), and the manufacture of many types of paints, plastics, and other materials. Specially prepared oils are used in some religious ceremonies and rituals as purifying agents.

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  1. hypatia

    Oil from the National Wildlife Refuge

    The oil industry has tried for more than 20 years to get access to what is believed to be billions of barrels of oil beneath the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in north-eastern Alaska. Now it seems they have won. Environmentalists have fought such...
  2. S

    Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill (Catastrophe)

    In class today, we viewed an HBO movie called Dead Ahead that features the gruesome results plus causes of the oil spill in '89. Are recovery efforts still being done on Alaska's beaches as a result of the leakage of +11 million gallons of oil? Also, even though this spill is one of the...
  3. D

    Vegetable Oil conversion for diesel engines

    Does anyone know if there have been any posts on the vegetable oil to diesel conversions. I am very interested in the topic, but couldn't find anything yet. I guess if there is nothing yet posted, this could be the new post. I'll try and get some of the info that I have and post it.
  4. M

    News Are We Approaching the Point of No Return with Peak Oil?

    I am really curious as to what the minds on this forum think about Peak Oil. Set to hit around 2010, Peak Oil seems to get an insanely small amount of attention, especially considering that the 1970's oil crash was due to just a 5% decrease in oil production. After Peak Oil, it is...
  5. G

    Why Does Oil Float Above Water?

    Oil Floating above water...? Someone, please first answer this qn... Is oil denser than water? If yes, pls proceed... When an oil spill occurs at sea, why would the oil float above the water? If oil is denser than water, wouldn't oil be sinking to the bottom of the sea? Could anyone...
  6. R

    Fluids and buoyance, determine how much of the cylinder is in the oil

    I have two physics problems on fluids that I'm stuck on and would appreciate any help! This is an algebra based physics class... (no calculus). 1. A solid cylinder (radius = 0.150 m, height = 0.120 m) has a mass of 7.00 kg. This cylinder is floating in water. Then oil (rho = 725 kg/m^3)...
  7. R

    Area of 1.55m^3 Oil Slick: Answer in m^2

    Assume that an oil slick consists of a single layer of molecules and that each molecule occupies a cube .718nm on a side. Determine the area of an oil slick formed by 1.55m^3 of oil. Answer in units of m^2.
  8. N

    Relating Molar Enthelpy of Oil to Something: Need Lab Ideas

    Hi. I have this BIG lab that is due really soon and I need ideas. We are going to find the molar enthalpy of edible oils (vegetable, canola, virgin, grape seed, sunflower). Since this is a big lab, we are going to be expected to relate molar enthalpy of the oil to something. Preferably...
  9. C

    Gold & Oil Prices: How Do They Change & What Determines Them?

    Why do prices of gold change in the same country from city to city How is the price of oil determined?
  10. N

    Problem related to Milikan's Oil Drop Experiment

    How would I figure out the answer to this question (what formulas)? Here are the formulas I've been using for this homework assignment: PEe = -qEd V = W/q V = -Ed C = q/V Question: An oil drop having a charge of 8 x 10^-19 C is suspended between two charged parallel plates. The...
  11. A

    Is Peak Oil Happening This Decade?

    I have in other threads assumed that the pessimists are correct and that peak oil is happening this decade. Do anyone have more information if this is correct? Can alternatives like tar sands, oil shale or abiogenic oil be dismissed? The peak-oil-this-decade theory is advocated here...
  12. B

    Paint thinner, oil, and water in a jar

    If I was to put paint thinner, oil, and water in a jar (individually..not together)...and then stirred, which one would have the biggest vortex (depth)? I know I can do it, and I will for the other two, but don't have paint thinner. and what type of intermolecular bonding is present in each...
  13. G

    Why Does Oil Appear Red on Water at Certain Thicknesses?

    A thin film of oil (n = 1.46 is spread over a puddle of water (n = 1.33). In a region where the film looks red from directly above ( = 626 nm), what is the minimum possible thickness of the film? I thought this was simple but it says my answer is wrong. Ok the light goes from a smaller to...
  14. kat

    News Americans involved in UN Food for oil scandal

    I've been waiting for this to begin to leak. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6214647/site/newsweek/
  15. P

    Calculating Charge of Oil Drop in Electric Field

    another fun Ap phyiscs problem..short as usual: In one run of the oil drop experiment a 20 mg drop was suspended between parallel plates 1.5 cm apart when the potential difference was 300 V. Compute the number of excess electronic charges on the drop. is this just saying "compute the oil...
  16. P

    Calculating the Diameter of an Oil Slick

    I'm having trouble with this problem below: 1000 cm^3 of oil is spilled onto a smooth lake. If the oil spreads out uniformly until it makes an oil slick just one molecule thick, with adjacent molecules just touching, estimate the diameter of the oil slick. The diameter of the oil molecules...
  17. Dissident Dan

    News Mismanagement of Iraqi Oil Money

    http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040622/bs_afp/un_iraq_us_funds_040622082856&e=2 Maybe the "war for oil" fears have some credence?
  18. W

    Opinions on Replacing Oil: What's Next?

    I have a question I wanted to ask, or more like your opinions? I have read about the new book that rescently hit the book stores shelves, called Out of Gas. The books talks about the fact that we will run out of oil in less then a decate, which scientists say will not happen that soon. And also...
  19. V

    Kerosene Oil: Why It Won't Catch Fire in a Bottle

    Why doesn't kerosene oil catch fire when it is in bottle?
  20. I

    Can (v1-v2) Prove the Existence of the Smallest Unit of Electric Charge?

    We recently did a lab where we were given an animation of the oil drop experiment, and we were supposed to find the velocity of the droplet when Fg and FQ were in the same direction (v1) and when Fg and FQ were in opposite directions (v2)... Then we found (v1 - v2) and were told to analyze and...
  21. P

    Cornstarch and vegatable oil

    Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows the chemical properties, melting/boiling points or family group of cornstarch or vegetable oil? Thanks for your help and time!
  22. M

    News Halliburton pulled from Iraqi oil contract

    http://cnn.usnews.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+Halliburton+pulled+from+Iraqi+oil+contract+-+Dec.+30%2C+2003&expire=01%2F28%2F2004&urlID=8651662&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2003%2FUS%2F12%2F30%2Fsprj.nitop.halliburton.ap%2F&partnerID=2004 Question -...
  23. L

    News US Admin's Immunity for Oil Companies: Astounding & True

    The things that this US administration does continue to astound me. Sad but unfortunately true to form. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/03/1059849273357.html This executive order will have far-reaching consequences.
  24. Dissident Dan

    News Why was North Korea treated differently from Iraq according to Wolfowitz?

    Excerpt from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,970331,00.html It comes out at last...
  25. B

    How is oil extracted from porous reservoirs

    [/PLAIN] i can figure how it is done would anyone help me?
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