Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Kentucky, post: 1325637, member: 33176&quot;]<b>Quick Chem Glossary for the Non-chemist</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Chemistry is full of terms that are meaningful to chemists, but misused in general.</p><p><br /></p><p>Oil - Oils such as olive oil, peanut oil and soy oil are actually long chain (lots of carbons in a row) fatty acids.&nbsp; Don&#039;t freak out, the acid is very weak, after all we eat them.&nbsp; Mineral oil is a fraction from distillation of petroleum.&nbsp; Essential oils are just essences that are washed out of plants, herbs and flowers, usually with alcohol.&nbsp; Sorry, but there is no easy definition of oil, although the first two are kind of used interchangeably.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Hydrocarbon - A chemical compound that is composed of only carbon and hydrogen.&nbsp; These are often materials having a boiling point range from petroleum.&nbsp; These can include mineral oil (quite high boiling), hexane (low boiling), butane (a gas at room conditions) and others.&nbsp; These are aliphatic (sorry) hydrocarbons.&nbsp; They are good for dissolving oils and greases.&nbsp; They include lighter fluid, charcoal lighter, kerosene, white gas, etc.&nbsp; Another class of hydrocarbons are the aromatic hydrocarbons which include benzene (carcinogenic and not much commonly used now), toluene (benzene with an attached carbon that makes it much less hazardous and is also known as toluol), xylene (benzene with two attached carbons having a higher boiling point and less smell than toluene) and mesitilene (benzene with 3 attached carbons).&nbsp; You also run into odd names for hydrocarbons such as naptha (which has nothing to do with napthalene).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Other organic compounds such as acetone and the alcohols contain elements other than carbon and hydrogen.&nbsp; If you want to know what something is, PM me and I will try to help.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in