Kerosene

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KEROSENE


A flammable hydrocarbon oil, kerosene is a petroleum product primarily used for fuel. In 1854 Canadian geologist Abraham Gesner (1797–1864) discovered a process for distilling fuel from petroleum (initially, coal oil). He found the derived substance to be a superior lighting oil. In 1859, when the first successful oil well was drilled near Titusville, Pennsylvania, the shale oil was found to also be an excellent, and then plentiful, source of kerosene. Kerosene illumination caught on quickly. Until the advent of the incandescent lightbulb, invented by Thomas Alva Edison in 1879, kerosene lamps remained the primary source of artificial lighting.

See also: Black Gold

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