What’s the difference between, Oil, Crude Oil, Gas, Natural Gas and Fuel? (And others I may be missing.)
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Crude Oil is the oil that we pump out of the ground. This is often called Petroleum.
This is a black substance that contains lots of different chemicals. To use it for anything practical we have to refine it, which means processing the crude oil to separate it into various different substances. This is done primarily with a distillation process to separate the different weights of liquid similar to refining alcohol, but also with various chemical processes.
The products produced includes Methane or ‘natural gas’ which is sometimes found by itself. Methane is good for heating homes and running a fireplace. Methane is an alkane which is a simple molecule consisting of Carbon and Hydrogen. All carbon-Hydrogen molecules are called hydro-carbons with varying degrees of complexity. Methane is the simplest alkane that only contains 1 carbon atom, and 4 hydrogen atoms.
More complex alkanes include Butane (meaning 2 Carbons) and propane (3 Carbons) which are more energetic gases used for camp stoves, lighters, and BBQs
Gasoline is a mixture that may contains upwards of 500 different compounds including higher molecules of alkanes and alkenes like Pentane (5 carbons) and Octane (8 Carbons) as well as various other hydro-carbons in different configurations which is much more energy rich and is good for cars.
Heating oil is a heavier oil made of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons in the 14- to 20-carbon atom range and is used for power plants and heating your house.
Other things that can be made from refined petroleum includes Vaseline (petroleum jelly), plastics, lubricant oils, hydraulic oils, etc
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