Gasoline

Gasoline is a petroleum liquid product which is primarily used in internal combustion engines (cars). The color of gasoline jar is a transparent yellow- green color. In a gas stations parking lots, there are often effervescent colored spots on the asphalt. Most people think that it is an oil stain from a car, but most often it is a gas leak. Gasoline and a very flammable product and when it comes in contact with the skin it will burn and absorb into the flesh it can cause cancer. When gasoline touches the eye, the contact to eyes will become completely blind.

Production
The world has produced at least 1 trillion barrels of oil and counting. Over the next century it is estimated that 2 trillion barrels of oil will be produced. More barrels are expected to be produced from conventional reserves and undiscovered pockets of oil. Many of these barrels will be filled with extra-heavy oil drilled in Venezuela, oil sands in Alberta and shale oil, found in rocks, in the United States. Oil has powered the world in the form of transportation fuels for more than a century.

Gasoline is not a natural element such as sodium or copper and cannot be mined or found in an ore but it is a natural by-product of petroleum made from crude oil. Crude oil is drilled in many parts of the world like Alaska, The Gulf of Mexico, and the Middle East. Once the crude oil has been drilled it is sent in barrels to oil refineries across the world. In the refinery the oil is converted to diesel fuel and gasoline by a process called distillation. The material that is separated for the oil is called straight- run gasoline.

Uses
Gasoline's main use is for fuel in cars, tractors, planes, generators, lawn mowers, weed whackers. Gasoline is mostly known for running the cars we drive. Gasoline is made from crude oil drilled in various parts of the world, including in the United States. For every barrel of crude oil, it contains roughly 42 gallons. Out of these 42 gallons of crude oil, it makes only 19.5 gallons of gasoline. This is one of the reasons why gasoline is becoming more and more expensive.

In the nineteenth century the fuels for cars and other automobiles were coal tar distillates and a lighter form of distilled crude oil. On September 6, 1892 the first gasoline powered tractor was made by a man named John Floelich from Iowa. This tractor had one vertical single- cylinder mounted to a wooden beam and could drive a J.I. Case threshing machine. In the winter of 1918 the first U.S. made gasoline pipeline started to transport gasoline through a three inch pipe over 40 miles long from Salt Creek to Casper, Wyoming. Then in 1990, the Clean Air Act came into effect. This act was created to eliminate pollution all together and changed the gasoline making process forever.

When the automobile started to become the number one mode of transportation, the need for new fuels was raised. In the nineteenth century, gas, kerosene and coal were being used as fuels for cars and in lamps. The car engine required a fuel with a petroleum base. As the higher the demand for cars went, the more gas was needed to fuel these automobiles. Although the oil refineries were going as fast as they could to make enough gas for everyone, they could not go as fast as the cars coming of the assembly line.

Companies
The three most popular oil/gas companies in the world today are British Petroleum, Shell, and Chevron. These three companies also owns smaller gas companies like Texaco, Harris and the store brands like Costco, 7-Eleven, Safeway and Fred Myers.

Shell: Shell is currently the leading oil/gas producer in the Gulf of Mexico, and a recognized pioneer in the oil/gas exploration and production technology. Shell is also one of America’s leading oil and natural gas producers, gasoline and natural gas marketers, and petrochemical manufacturers. Shell operates in all 50 states of America and employs more than 22,000 people in oil drilling and delivering gas.

British Petroleum (Arco): In the spring of 1999 British Petroleum, commonly known as BP, and ARCO confirmed a merger between the two companies. Since this time the gas stations popularly known as Arco/AM.PM. is a product funded and produced by BP. Arco stations are commonly seen in many parts of the Northwest. The terminal where the BP/ARCO gas is loaded into truck is on Harbor Island in Seattle, Washington. From this location, any BP/ARCO gas stations from Bellingham to Vancouver, Ellensburg to Gig Harbor and up and down the I-5 and I-405 freeways, receive their gas from Harbor Island.

Chevron: In the past 130 years Chevron has developed some of the world's most complex crude oil fields. Chevron has a strong position in nearly all of the world's key oil pockets. They are also the largest private producer of oil in Kazakhstan, Thailand, the largest oil producer in Indonesia and the top leaseholder in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Chevron gases helps restore lost engine performance caused by deposits left by lower quality gasoline’s, keeps emissions low and has the ability to clean vital engine parts such as dirty fuel injectors and intake valves. Depending on the specific requirements of a car engine, Chevron offers three different grades, determined by their octane level, of gasoline: Chevron Regular- Recommended for most gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks, Chevron Plus- Recommended for higher-performance cars and engines prone to knocking on lower octane levels, and Chevron Supreme- Recommended for cars where the manufacturer recommends the use of premium grade gasoline.

Hazards
Gasoline has three major problems, one having to do with smog and the ozone layer and the release of carbon and greenhouse gasses. When gasoline is burned by itself, carbon monoxide and water is in the exhaust that is given off. When gasoline is burned in an internal combustion engine, a regular car engine, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons are produced. These noxious chemicals are released into the air and cause the detraining ozone layer.

When carbon is burned it turns into carbon monoxide. Since gasoline's weight is in carbon, for every one gallon of gasoline burned, five to six pounds of carbon monoxide is produced. In the U.S. alone roughly two billion pounds of carbon monoxide is released into the air every day.

The carbon monoxide that is released into the air is also a greenhouse gas. A greenhouse gas is any atmospheric gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation produced by solar warming of the Earth's surface. The ultimate effects of the greenhouse effect are rising sea levels and flooding. For these reasons there are growing efforts to replace the use of gasoline with hydrogen. The third reason being that gasoline of extremely flammable.