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A. What is gasoline?
The oil product probably most familiar to us is gasoline. Gasoline (or petrol) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines.
The word "gasolene" was created in 1865 from the word gas and the chemical suffix -ine/-ene. The modern spelling was first used in 1871. The shortened form "gas" was first recorded in American English in 1905. The word "petrol" was first used in reference to the refined substance as early as 1892 (it previously referred to unrefined petroleum), and was registered as a trade name by English wholesaler Carless, Capel & Leonard.
Bertha Benz got petrol for her famous drive from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back from chemists' shops. In Germany petrol is called Benzin, only the usage does not derive from her name but from the chemical Benzine.
The word petroleum may also be derived from old French pétrole, meaning petroleum.
Before internal combustion engines were invented in the mid-1800s, gasoline was sold in small bottles as a treatment against lice and their eggs. This treatment method is no longer common because of the inherent fire hazard and the risk of dermatitis.
Many Commonwealth countries use the term petrol (abbreviated from petroleum spirit). The term gasoline is commonly used in North America. The word is commonly shortened in colloquial usage to "gas". The term mogas, short for motor gasoline, for use in cars is used to distinguish it from avgas, aviation gasoline used in light aircraft. This should be distinguished in usage from genuinely gaseous fuels used in internal combustion engines such as hydrogen.
Gasoline is produced in a wide variety of blends and types refined for many different purposes. In the 1920s and ‘30s, airplanes used the same type of gasoline as cars. Over the years, engineers developed new fuels for aircraft that would increase power. Fuels derived from crude oil today include liquefied petroleum gas, aviation fuel, gasoline, kerosene, diesel engine and road vehicle fuel, and gas oil and fuel oil, which are used in boilers.
When oil and gas are converted to chemicals, they are called petrochemicals. We are surrounded by products made from petrochemicals, including plastics. In the 1920s there was an abundance of hydrocarbons at petroleum refineries. Manufacturers took advantage of this and developed uses for the cheap raw materials. The petrochemical industry evolved.
The list of petrochemical-derived breakthroughs is endless, including such products as ball-point pens and sunglasses, trashbags and nylon rope, crayons and toothbrushes, deodorant and nail polish and tennis shoes and lipstick, candles, paint, carpet, soap, perfumes, balloons, photographic film, insecticides, margarine, cassettes, telephones, polyester and so many more.
One particular area that has its share of oil-produced products is the medical industry. What would life be without hearing aids, bandages, artificial limbs and heart valves, contact lenses and hundreds of medications derived from petroleum? As the source of such important products, there is concern about the amount of oil left on Earth.
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| IV. Render the text about oil refinery in the oral form. | | | B. Chemical analysis and production of gasoline |