Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

392

Vegetable oils

Plants and vegetables, such as olives,

corn, and sunflowers, provide valuable oils.

olive oil is made by crushing ripe

olives; sunflower oil comes from

sunflower seeds. these oils are

used in cooking, and sunflower

oil is used to make margarine.

Factories treat plant and

vegetable oils to make soaps

and paints; vegetable

oil can also be

used as fuels,

such as biodiesel.

Find out more

Some gas

from the oil

is burned off

as a safety

precaution.

oil well

an oil well is a shaft that is drilled to

obtain oil. the oil flows up the shaft

from the deposit far below. on land,

a machine called a rocker pumps

up the oil.

gasoline

gasoline is one of the most

important of all oil products.

Diesel fuel is another kind of

motor fuel made from oil.

Coal

gas

geology

Plastics

Rocks and minerals

Several wells

are drilled to

an oil deposit.

without oil, modern life would grind to a halt. oil is

needed to make the fuels that drive cars, trucks, diesel trains,

ships, and aircraft. Power stations burn oil to produce much

of the world’s electricity, and many homes use oil-burning

furnaces for heating. oil is also very important because it is

needed to make plastics, textiles, and other useful products.

oil is a dark, thick liquid that lies deep underground and

beneath the seabed. oil wells are bored to obtain

oil, which is also called crude oil or

petroleum. Crude oil contains a mixture of

chemicals and many different types of oil.

lubricating oil is made from crude oil.

it helps machine parts slide easily so

that the machine works well.

oil ReFineRy

the crude oil that comes

from a deposit is a mixture

of chemicals and many kinds

of oil. Crude oil is taken to an

oil refinery, where it is heated.

this makes the oil break down,

or separate, into gasoline and

other fuels, lubricating oils,

chemicals, and bitumen

for making roads.

Divers check and

repair platform

Huge oil tankers from below.

carry oil from

offshore platforms to

refineries on land.

wheRe oil is FounD

oil is found in many places, from the Middle east to

the arctic. all these places were once covered by the

oceans. tiny sea plants sank to the seabed and were

buried in mud. the mud turned into layers of rock.

heat from the rocks warmed the plants over millions

of years and changed them into oil and natural gas.

Oil workers live

in quarters on

the platform.

A platform may stand

on legs and be as tall

as a skyscraper. Some

platforms do not have

legs but rest on huge

floats called pontoons.

oFFshoRe oil

Rigs drill wells down

to oil deposits, and

production platforms

bring the oil to

the surface. the

platforms either

float on the sea

or stand on the

seabed.

Rocker

Oil well

Oil workers

are ferried

to production

platform by

helicopter.

Pipeline

Oil terminal

and refinery

Olive oil

Olives

Oil

CheMiCals FRoM oil

an oil refinery produces

many chemicals from crude

oil, which are called petro-

chemicals. Factories use these

chemicals to make plastics,

textiles, and other products.

Polyethylene, for example, is

made from a gas that comes

from oil. Chemicals from oil

are also used to make drugs,

fertilizers, detergents, and

dyes and paints in all colors.

PiPeline

a long pipe carries oil from the

platform to an oil terminal or

tanker port. From there the oil

is sent to a refinery.

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