When cars were originally being made and designed, why was “gasoline” used rather than crude oil, especially since it was what came from the Earth?

Question

Cars today run on “gasoline” which has the hydrocarbons that work with the air and make the combustion possible, but why design engines like this, especially since the refining process is so arduous? Would it not have been easier and more logical to try using the crude oil straight from the Earth?

In: 16

Answer 1

Oh a major reason especially back then was the extreme variations of the quality, the volitilty of the liquid that was collected.

What made standard oil was that they chemical engineered a product that you could expect had a specific level of flamability.

in the mid 1800s thousands of people were horrificially burned, killed because when you poured oil into a lantern you had little idea whether it was like cooking oil or rocket fuel. serioiusly it was dangerous. one of the reasons whale oil was so popular was it was far more consistent. as a percent of population, as many people were killed filling, lighting or using gas lanterns, cook stoves, heaters, etc than are killed in car wrecks every year.

Answer 2

Oh a major reason especially back then was the extreme variations of the quality, the volitilty of the liquid that was collected.

What made standard oil was that they chemical engineered a product that you could expect had a specific level of flamability.

in the mid 1800s thousands of people were horrificially burned, killed because when you poured oil into a lantern you had little idea whether it was like cooking oil or rocket fuel. serioiusly it was dangerous. one of the reasons whale oil was so popular was it was far more consistent. as a percent of population, as many people were killed filling, lighting or using gas lanterns, cook stoves, heaters, etc than are killed in car wrecks every year.