Oil

The general definition of oil includes classes of chemical compounds that may be otherwise unrelated in structure, properties, and uses.

[4][5] The earliest attested forms of the word are the Mycenaean Greek 𐀁𐀨𐀺, e-ra-wo and 𐀁𐁉𐀺, e-rai-wo, written in the Linear B syllabic script.

Organic oils may also contain chemicals other than lipids, including proteins, waxes (class of compounds with oil-like properties that are solid at common temperatures) and alkaloids.

Lipids can be classified by the way that they are made by an organism, their chemical structure and their limited solubility in water compared to oils.

[7] Crude oil, or petroleum, and its refined components, collectively termed petrochemicals, are crucial resources in the modern economy.

[citation needed] Several edible vegetable and animal oils, and also fats, are used for various purposes in cooking and food preparation.

Olive oil holds a lot of fats within it which is why it was also used in lighting in ancient Greece and Rome.

Olive oil was also used to clean the body in this time as it would trap the moisture in the skin while pulling the grime to the surface.

[citation needed] Color pigments are easily suspended in oil, making it suitable as a supporting medium for paints.

Whale oil is preferred for lubricating clocks, because it does not evaporate, leaving dust, although its use was banned in the US in 1980.

[14] It is a long-running myth that spermaceti from whales has still been used in NASA projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Voyager probe because of its extremely low freezing temperature.