Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Petrol |
PetrolNoun1. A volatile flammable mixture of hydrocarbons (hexane and heptane and octane etc.) derived from petroleum; used mainly as a fuel in internal-combustion engines. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "petrol" was first used: 1895. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Chemical Industry | Refined petroleum distillate, normally boiling within the limits of 30 to 220 degrees C. . . used as fuel for spark-ignition engines. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Gasoline (or Petrol) is a petroleum liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons used as fuel in internal combustion engines. The term gasoline is primarily used in English-speaking North America to refer to such a mixture. People in other parts of the English-speaking world use the term petrol for such mixtures.
Chemical Analysis
The vast majority of hydrocarbons present in gasoline are aliphatic ones with number of carbon atoms in the range of 6,7-11,12. Typical gasoline also contains some other organic compounds - aromatic and other unsaturated hydrocarbons, organic ethers, amines and sulfoxides.
Gasoline is a more volatile fuel than diesel or kerosene. The reason for this is not only the base constituents, but the additives that are put into it.
Many of the non-aliphatic hydrocarbons naturally present in gasoline (especially aromatic ones like benzene), as well as many anti-knocking additives, are carcinogenic. Because of this, any large-scale or ongoing leaks of gasoline pose a threat to the public's health should the gasoline reach a public supply of drinking water. The chief risks of such leaks come not from vehicles, but from gasoline delivery truck accidents and leaks from underground storage tanks. Because of this risk, most underground storage tanks now have extensive measures in place to detect and prevent any such leaks.
Octane rating
is a measure of how resistant gasoline is to premature detonation (knocking). It is measured relative to a mixture of isooctane (2,5-dimethylhexane) and n-heptane. So an 87-octane petrol has the same knock resistance as a 87% isooctane/ 13% heptane mixture. Petrol is typically separated from crude oil via distillation, so the mixture of the molecules in the resulting fuel is dependent on the oil used. Romania was a supplier of "light-sweet" crude oil, which, when distilled, resulted in a petrol with an 87 rating. 87 octane was the general benchmark for much of the world, and is the current standard rating for "normal" petrol in the US and Canada.It might seem odd that fuels with higher octane ratings burn less easily, yet are generally considered more powerful. Using a fuel with a higher octane allows the engine to be run at higher compressions, and not have problems with knock. Compression is directly related to power, so engines using higher octane deliver more power, explaining the common misconception. Some high-performance engines are designed to operate at the higher compression levels associated with high octane numbers, and thus demand high-octane gasoline.
History
Lead additives
Because the mixture known as gasoline has a tendency to explode or "knock, lead additives were first blended with fuel in the 1920s, and continued through the 1980s. The most popular one was tetra-ethyl lead. However, with the recognition of the environmental damage caused by the lead, and the incompatibility of lead with catalytic converters, most countries are in the process of phasing out the sale of leaded fuel, and different additives to reduce knocking are now used. Among the most popular ones are aromatic ethers and methanol. There are also additives to reduce internal engine carbon buildups, to increase oxidation, and to allow easier starting in cold climates.
WWII and Octane Story
One interesting historical issue involving octane rating took place during WWII. Germany received the vast majority of their oil from Romania, and set up huge distilling plants in Germany to produce petrol from it. In the US the oil was not "as good" and the oil industry instead had to invest heavily in various expensive boosting systems. This turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. US industry was soon delivering fuels of ever-increasing octane ratings by adding more of the boosting agents, with cost no longer a factor during wartime. By war's end their aviation fuel was commonly 130 to 150 octane, which could easily be put to use in existing engines to deliver much more power by increasing the compression delivered by the superchargers. The Germans, relying entirely on "good" petrol, had no such industry, and instead had to rely on ever-larger engines to deliver more power. The result is that British and US engines consistently outperformed German ones during the war, playing no small part in the defeat of the Luftwaffe.
See also
- list of automotive fuel brands,
- diesel
- gasoline tax
External Links
- Gasoline FAQ
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gasoline."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Petroleum (from Latin petrus–rock and oleum–oil) or mineral oil. It can be shortened to the prefix petro-, as in "petrodiesel".
Petroleum is a thick, dark brown or greenish inflammable liquid, which, at certain points, exists in the upper strata of the earth. It consists of a complex mixture of various hydrocarbons, largely of the methane series, but may vary much in appearance, composition, and properties. Biological material in rocks starts off largely as a waxy material known as kerogen. Under the influence of heat and pressure, kerogen breaks down first into liquids and to gases. Both the liquid (petroleum) and gas phases (natural gas) tend to migrate through porous rocks until they encounter impermeable beds where packets/pools will tend to collect. After a drilling and pumping process to extract it from the strata, petroleum is refined by distillation. The products include kerosene, benzene, gasoline, paraffin wax, asphalt, etc.
The biological nature of petroleum is not certain. Russian scientists have proposed that petroleum is "abiotic" in nature. The scientific papers can be found here http://www.gasresources.net/ The following paragraph is from the above site.
"The modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins recognizes that petroleum is a primordial material of deep origin which has been erupted into the crust of the Earth. In short, and bluntly, petroleum is not a "fossil fuel" and has no intrinsic connection with dead dinosaurs (or any other biological detritus) "in the sediments" (or anywhere else)."
Western science has ignored the "proof" supplied by the Russians. Russia is now completely oil self sufficient, lending credence to their claims. If oil is indeed the result of an abiotic geological process, the supply is virtually limitless.
Strictly speaking, petroleum consists entirely of aliphatic hydrocarbons, those composed of nothing but hydrogen and carbon.
The four lightest hydrocarbons -- CH4 (methane), C2H6 (ethane), C3H8 (propane) and C4H10 (butane) -- are all gases, boiling at -107°C, -67°C, -43°C, and -18°C, respectively (-161°, -88°, -46°, and -1° degrees F).
The chains in the C5-7 range are all light, easily vaporized, clear naphthas. They are used as solvents, dry cleaning fluids, and other quick-drying products. The chains from C6H14 through C12H26 are blended together and used for gasoline. Kerosene is made up of chains in the C10 to C15 range, followed by diesel fuel/heating oil (C10 to C20) and heavier fuel oils as the ones used in ship engines. These petroleum compounds are all liquid at room temperature.
Lubricating oils and semi-solid greases (including Vaseline®) range from C16 up to C20.
Chains above C20 form solids, starting with paraffin wax, then tar and asphaltic bitumen.
Oil field in California, 1938 Boiling ranges of petroleum atmospheric pressure distillation fractions in degrees centigrade:
Petroleum's worth as a portable, dense energy source (powering the vast majority of automobiles, trucks, trains and ships), and as the base of many industrial chemicals makes it one of the world's most important commodities. Access to it was a major factor in several military conflicts, including World War Two and the Gulf War. Much of the world's readily accessible reserves are located in the Middle East, a politically unstable region.
- petrol ether: 40 - 70 (used as solvent)
- light petrol: 60 - 100 (automobile fuel)
- heavy petrol: 100 - 150 (automobile fuel)
- light kerosene: 120 - 150 (household solvent and fuel)
- kerosene: 150 - 300 (jet engine fuel)
- gas oil: 250 - 350 (Diesel fuel/ heating)
- lubrication oil: > 300 (engine oil)
- remaining fractions: tar, asphalt, residual fuel
Petroleum history
Petroleum industry was initialized by Edwin Drake in the 1850's, near Titusville, Pennsylvania. The industry grew slowly in the 1800s and did not become a real national concern until the early part of the 20th century; the introduction of the internal combusion engine provided a demand that has largely sustained the industry to this day. Early "local" finds like those in Pennsylvania and Ontario were quickly exhausted, leading to "oil booms" in Texas and California. Other countries had sizable oil reserves as a part of their colonial holdings, and started to develop at an industrial level.
Following the 1973 oil crisis there was significant media coverage of oil supply levels. This brought to light the concern that oil is a limited resource that we will eventually run out of, at least as an economically viable energy source. At the time, the most common and popular predictions were always quite dire, and when they did not come true many dismissed all such discussion. The future of petroleum as a fuel remains somewhat controversial. Some would argue that because the total amount of petroleum is finite, the dire predictions of the 1970s have merely been postponed. Others argue that technology will continue to allow for the production of cheap hydrocarbons and that the earth has vast sources of unconventional petroleum reserves in the form of tar sands, bitumen fields, oil shale, and methyl hydrate that will allow for petroleum use to continue for an extremely long period in the future.
The presence of the oil industry has significant social and environmental impacts, both from accidents and from routine activities such as seismic exploration, drilling and the generation of polluting wastes. Oil extraction is expensive and frequently environmentally damaging. Offshort exploration and extraction of oil disturbs the surrounding marine environment. Extraction may involve dredging which stirs up the sea bed killing the sea plants that marine creatures require to survive. Crude oil and refined fuel spills from tanker ship accidents have damaged fragile ecosystems in Alaska, the Galapagos Islands, and many other places. Fortunately, renewable energy source alternatives do exist.
List of Petroleum Companies
- Arbusto Energy
- British Petroleum
- ChevronTexaco
- Exxon Mobil
- Gulf Oil
- Koch Oil
- Shell Oil
- Statoil
- ConocoPhillips
- Total
- Citgo
See also
- Brent
- Crude oil
- Greenhouse gases
- History of the Petroleum Industry
- Hubbert curve
- List of oil-producing states
- Oil field - List of oil fields
- Oil imperialism
- Oil supplies
- Oil well
- OPEC
- Petroleum disasters
- Petroleum crisis
- Renewable energy, specially bioalcohol and biodiesel
- Thermal depolymerization
- Renewable Energy Source
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Petroleum."
Synonyms: PetrolSynonyms: gas (n), gasolene (n), gasoline (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Fuel | Oil, petroleum, gasoline, high octane gasoline, nitromethane, petrol, gas, juice, gasohol, alcohol, ethanol, methanol, fuel oil, kerosene, jet fuel, heating oil, number oil, number oil, naphtha; rocket fuel, high specific impulse fuel, liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, lox. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Hello? Cancel the state funeral, tell the king to stop blubbing, Flash is not dead! I simply ran out of juice! And before five hundred girls all go 'oh, what's the point in living any more?' I'm talking about petrol! Woof (Blackadder Goes Forth; writing credit: Richard Curtis; Ben Elton) | |
Lyrics | And we cruised the metro, on premium petrol (Get Me Home; performing artist: FOXY) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Caravan petrol (1960) Red Roses and Petrol (2003) Garçon de petrol (1993) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
 |  |
| "Venice Petrol Station" by Gary McCord Commentary: "A strange sight anywhere else other than Venice." | "Petrol station" by Karoly Kiralyfalvi Commentary: "This is a petrol station in Croatia." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Petrol vehicles dominate (90%) the national fleet. (references) | |
Only goods such as motor vehicles, petrol, tobacco and alcohol are dutiable. (references) | ||
Market for petrol and diesel oil has been decreasing in the last several years. (references) | ||
Economic History | Tanzania | During fiscal year 2000 (FY00), domestic revenue remained at the same low level as in the previous year, i.e., at around 11.3 percent of GDP. The first eight months of the fiscal year 2001(FY01) saw a slight improvement in the revenue situation with domestic revenue increasing on an annualized basis to 12% of GDP. The improvement in the revenue situation was mainly due to increased revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol products. (references) |
Slovak Rep | Franchising in Slovakia is just beginning to grow and includes hotels, fast food operations, petrol stations, and business services. (references) | |
Burma | Special favors include preferential tariff rates and customs duties; preferred access to natural resources; monopoly privileges in certain lucrative areas of commerce and industry; special considerations in the issuance of licenses and permits; subsidized prices for land, buildings, petrol and diesel, gas, electricity and water; preferential exchange rates; and preferential treatment on government contracts. (references) | |
Trade | Vietnam | As Vietnam is on track to fully implement its international commitments to liberalize trade, the list of import quotas is now limited to certain imports that have great impact on the economy such as petrol. (references) |
Sri Lanka | Other taxes include a 7.5 percent national security levy (0.5 percent for machinery and equipment), a 12.5 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is a value-added tax and an excise tax on cigarettes, liquor, petrol and motor vehicles. (references) | |
Sri Lanka | There is an additional excise duty, which is currently set at 15 percent for petrol cars and 65 percent for diesel cars. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Petrol" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.04% of the time. "Petrol" is used about 2,280 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.04% | 2,258 | 3,912 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.44% | 10 | 111,207 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 0.26% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.22% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Noun (common) | 0.04% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 2,280 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| Turkey | Petrol Ofisi | USA | Petrol Industries, Inc. |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "petrol": black petrol ♦ gasoline petrol engine ♦ oxygenated petrol ♦ petrol bomb ♦ petrol can ♦ petrol engine ♦ petrol gage ♦ petrol gauge ♦ petrol pump ♦ petrol pump nozzle ♦ petrol station ♦ petrol tank ♦ petrol tanker ♦ petrol to the car ♦ petrol truck ♦ regular grade petrol ♦ regular petrol ♦ unleaded petrol. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "petrol": petrol-blue, petrol-bomb, petrol-bombed, petrol-caps, petrol-driven, petrol-electric, petrol-engine, petrol-engined, petrol-fed, petrol-filled, petrol-fuelled, petrol-guzzling, petrol-lead, petrol-like, petrol-powered, petrol-price, petrol-pump, petrol-rationing, petrol-shaded, petrol-sniffing, petrol-soaked, petrol-sodden, petrol-station, petrol-tank, petrol-tin, petrol-truck, petrol-type. | |
Ending with "petrol": free-with-petrol, lack-of-petrol, lead-in-petrol, non-petrol. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "petrol"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | petrol (gasolene, gasoline), bensine (gasolene, gasoline), bensien (gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Albanian | gazolinë (gasoline), benzinë (fuel, gas, gasoline, juice). (various references) | |
Arabic | نفط (blister, kerosene, oil), بنزين (gas, gasoline), بترول (oil). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | газ (fluid, gas, gauze, kerosene, naphtha, oil, petroleum, wind), нефт (oil, rock oil, rock-tar), нафта (naphtha, petroleum), бензинов (petrolic), бензин (benzine, gas, gasoline, juice), петрол (black gold, gas, kerosene, oil). (various references) | |
Chinese | 汽油 (gasoline). (various references) | |
Czech | benzín (fuel, gas, gasoline, juice). (various references) | |
Danish | benzin (gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Dutch | benzine (gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Esperanto | benzino (gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Farsi | بنزین(انگلیس). (various references) | |
Finnish | bentsiini (benzine, gas, gasol|ine, gasolene), bensiini (benzine, gas, gasol|ine, gasolene). (various references) | |
French | essence. (various references) | |
Frisian | benzine (gasoline). (various references) | |
German | Benzin (benzine, fuel, gas, gasoline, gasoline [AE], lighter fuel). (various references) | |
Greek | βενζίνη (gas, gasoline). (various references) | |
Hebrew | בנזין (benzene, gas, gasoline). (various references) | |
Hungarian | benzin (benzine, gas, gasolene, gasoline, juice). (various references) | |
Icelandic | bensín (gasoline). (various references) | |
Irish | beinsín (gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Italian | benzina (benzine, fuel, gas, gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ガス焜炉 (background chatter on a soundtrack, chewing gum, gadget, gadget bag, gadolinium, gamelan, gas range, gas station, gasohol, gasoline, gasoline engine car, gasoline stand, gateau, GATT, gattable, gavotte, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, glass, glass block, glass wool, governability, gut, guts, guts pose, packing tape, pane). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ガソリン (gasoline). (various references) | |
Korean | 휘발유. (various references) | |
Malay | bensin (gasoline). (various references) | |
Manx | pedryl (fuel, gasolene, juice). (various references) | |
Norwegian | bensin (gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Papiamen | gasolin (gasoline). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | etrolpay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | gasolina (essence, gas, gasolene, gasoline, juice). (various references) | |
Romanian | carburant (combustible, fuel), benzinã (benzine, gas, gasoline). (various references) | |
Russian | бензин (benzine, gas, gasolene, gasoline, juice). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | prečišćen petrolej, benzin (benzine, gas, gasoline). (various references) | |
Spanish | gasolina (gas, gasolene, gasoline, juice), bencina (benzine, gas, gasoline). (various references) | |
Swedish | bensin (benzine, gas, gasolene, gasoline, juice, petroleum). (various references) | |
Turkish | benzin (benzine, benzoline, fuel, gas, gasolene, gasoline, juice), benzín (gasoline). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | газолін (gasolene, gasoline), очищена нафта (distillate), бензин (benzine, gas, gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | dầu xăng (gasolene, gasoline). (various references) | |
Zulu | uphetroli (gasoline). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | petrole. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "petrol": petrolatum, petrolatums, petroleum, petroleums, petrolic, petrologic, petrological, petrologically, petrologies, petrologist, petrologists, petrology, petrols. (additional references) | |
Words containing "petrol": nonpetroleum, nonpetroleums. (additional references) | |
| |
"Petrol" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Bertol, Bertola, keltrol, oestriol, pathol, patro, patroll, Peeroo, Penroc, Petko, petral, Petrik, Petrioli, Petroc, petron, Petros, Petru, petto, Peyrol, pitol, Pitru, potoroo, Puteoli. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "petrol" (pronounced pe"trō'l) |
| 3 | -r ō' l | bankroll, payroll. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: replot. | |
| Words within the letters "e-l-o-p-r-t" | |
-1 letter: loper, poler, prole, repot, toper, trope. | |
-2 letters: lept, lope, lore, orle, pelt, pert, plot, poet, pole, pore, port, repo, role, rope, rote, rotl, tole, tope, tore, trop. | |
-3 letters: let, lop, lot, ole, ope, opt, ore, ort, per, pet, pol, pot, pro, rep, ret, roe, rot, tel, toe, top, tor. | |
-4 letters: el, er, et, lo. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-l-o-p-r-t" | |
+1 letter: droplet, petrols, plotter, poitrel, politer, poulter, premolt, prolate, protyle, replots. | |
+2 letters: boltrope, droplets, heliport, lakeport, leprotic, overplot, pectoral, petiolar, petrolic, petronel, petrosal, pilewort, plectron, plethora, plotters, plottier, poitrels, polestar, pollster, polluter, portable, portaled, porthole, portless, portlier, poulters, preallot, prostyle, protyles, teleport, temporal, terpinol. | |
+3 letters: acropetal, allotrope, atemporal, boltropes, completer, coprolite, corpulent, doorplate, epistoler, expletory, exploiter, flowerpot, heliports, interlope, lakeports, metroplex, operantly, overleapt, overplant, overplots, overslept, overslipt, pastorale, patrolled, patroller, patrolmen, pectorals, peculator, pellitory, percolate, petroleum, petrology, petronels, pileworts, pistoleer, plectrons, plethoras, plethoric, polestars, pollsters, polluters, polyester, polywater, portables, portholes, portliest, potboiler, potholder, poulterer, poultries, preallots, precoital, profluent, proleptic, proselyte, prostyles, repletion, replotted, saprolite, sporulate, teleports, temporals, terpineol, terpinols, turophile, underplot, upholster. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Company Usage 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
