Oil
An oil is any substance that is in a viscous liquid state (\"oily\") at ambient temperatures or slightly warmer, and is both hydrophobic (immiscible with water, literally \"water fearing\") and lipophilic (miscible with other oils, literally \"fat loving\"). more...
 Home
Art
Bed
Book
Car
Chair
China
Clock
Doll
Furniture
Glass
Necklace
Oil
 Antiques (Classical, Amer)
Architectural & Garden
Asian Antiques
Decorative Arts
Ethnographic
Maritime
Other Antiques
Primitives
Painting
Pottery
Radio
Ring
Sculpture
Wedding
Wood
This general definition includes compound classes with otherwise unrelated chemical structures, properties, and uses, including vegetable oils, petrochemical oils, and volatile essential oils. Oil is a nonpolar substance.
Examples
Biological
Vegetable oils, non-volatile oils extracted from plants, usually from seeds. Vegetable oils are less stable than mineral oils, and degrade over time.;
Essential oils, volatile aromatic oil extracted from plants.;
Animal Oils, such as whale oil and cod liver oil.;
Synthetic
Synthetic oils, synthesised;
Mineral
Crude oil, petroleum, and many petroleum derivatives fuel oils.;
Applications
Food oils
Several edible vegetable and animal oils, and also fats, are used for various purposes in cooking and food preparation. In particular, many foods are fried in boiling oil, which is much hotter than boiling water. Oils are also used for flavouring and for modifying the texture of foods e.g Stir Fry.
Health advantages are claimed for a number of specific oils such as omega 3 fish oils, evening primrose oil, flaxseed oil, etc.
Trans fats, often produced by hydrogenating vegetable oils, are known to be harmful to health.
Oil as fuel
Most oils burn in air generating heat which can be used directly or converted into other forms of energy in the usual ways. Oils are used as fuels for heating, lighting (e.g. kerosene lamp), powering combustion engines, and other purposes. Oils used for this purpose nowadays are usually derived from petroleum (fuel oil, diesel oil, gasoil, etc). Renewable biological sources of energy, some of which are oils, are used as an alternative to petroleum products due to concerns about global warming and cost. Oil as a fuel is not a renewable resource.
Lubrication
Due to their non-polarity, oils do not easily adhere to other substances. This makes them useful as lubricants for various engineering purposes. Mineral oils are more suitable than biological oils, which degrade rapidly in most environmental conditions.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
|
