Petroleum or Crude Oil is made under the Earth’s surface. Crude Oil is formed from a natural process and is found in specific locations on earth, often in great quantities. Petroleum products help the economy by being used as a raw material in manufacturing and providing a source of fuel. As a raw material, petroleum is used to make products such as fertilizers, paints, building materials, plastics, and is used in some medicines. Petroleum is used as fuel to power sources of mobility on land, in the air and under water, and has helped man to create important technology. Our modern way of life is dependent on industries that use petroleum to meet the needs of technology and transportation. Unfortunately, the burning of petroleum as a fuel for automobiles and in manufacturing creates carbon dioxide as the bi-product. Carbon dioxide affects the atmosphere by thinning the ozone layer.
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Petroleum is chemically composed of hydrocarbons, along with traces of sulfur- containing and oxygen-containing compounds. Petroleum can have many different viscosities. It can be very thin and easy to pour, or very thick. Petroleum can also be in a liquid, solid or gaseous state. There are three types of petroleum; the asphalt type, the paraffin type, and the mixed base type. The asphalt type is made up of twice as many hydrogen atoms as carbon atoms. In the paraffin type, hydrogen atoms are always two more than twice the amount of carbon atoms. The mixed base type is composed of both paraffin hydrocarbons and naphthenes.
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Petroleum is created from the decomposed remains of marine organisms. This includes all the dead, decomposed bodies of animals that lived in the water, or that died in water, or perhaps dead bodies that were washed into water. The dead organisms sink to the bottom of a body of water, and sand, silt, and mud engulf them. The sediment builds on top of the deposit of marine organisms and after millions of years, the sand, silt, and mud change into sandstone, limestone, and shale. After many years of heat and pressure from the layers of rock, the decomposed marine matter will change form to what we know as petroleum or crude oil. After the matter has changed to petroleum, its viscosity becomes less dense and the petroleum flows upwards towards the surface of the Earth’s crust. Pockets of petroleum are trapped between layers of rock, waiting to be drilled and extracted. To find and mine for petroleum under the Earth’s crust, geologists need to find a sedimentary basin. If there is shale, that contains organic material, it is an indication that petroleum oil may be nearby.
