Etymology

Oil is a non-scientific term used to refer to certain diverse and unrelated compounds sharing the same physical properties (such as viscosity and a hydrophobic nature), while ignoring related compounds. The compounds found in ****ing oil are chemically very similar, almost identical, to those found in butter and very different from those found in diesel fuel, but while diesel is an oil, butter is not. Indeed diesel is once again very similar to natural gas, but gas is certainly not oil. This disparity stems partly from the fact that oils must be liquid at room temperature, and thus only certain liquid chemicals in many unrelated families are recognised, collectively, as 'oil'. Scientists, instead of using the term 'oil', adopt the terms lipids and other terms to denote them instead.

Types of oils

Mineral oil

All oils, with their high carbon and hydrogen content, can be traced back to organic sources or space. [1][2] Mineral oils, found in porous rocks underground, are no exception, as they were originally the organic material, such as dead plankton, accumulated on the seafloor in geologically ancient times. Through various geochemical processes this material was converted to mineral oil, or petroleum, and its components, such as kerosene, paraffin waxes, gasoline, diesel and such. These are classified as mineral oils as they do not have an organic origin on human timescales, and are instead derived from underground geologic ********s, ranging from rocks, to underground traps, to sands.

Other oily substances can also be found in the environment, the most well-known being asphalt, occurring naturally underground or, where there are leaks, in tar pits .

Petroleum and other mineral oils, (specifically labelled as petrochemicals), have become such a crucial resource to human civilization in modern times they are often referred to by the ubiquitous term of 'oil' itself.

Organic oils

Oils are also produced by plants, animals and other organisms through organic processes, and these oils are remarkable in their diversity. Oil is a somewhat vague term to use chemically, and the scientific term for oils, fats, waxes, cholesterol and other oily substances found in living things and their secretions, is lipids.

Lipids, ranging from waxes to steroids, are somewhat hard to characterize, and are united in a group almost solely based on the fact that they all repel, or refuse to dissolve, in water, and are however comfortably miscible in other liquid lipids. They also have a high carbon and hydrogen content, and are considerably lacking in oxygen compared to other organic compounds and minerals.

Applications

Food oils

Many edible vegetable and animal oils, and also fats, are used for various in ****ing and food preparation. In particular, many foods are fried in oil much hotter than boiling water. Oils are also used for flavoring and for modifying the texture of foods e.g Stir Fry.

Health advantages are claimed for a number of specific oils such as omega 3 oils (fish oil, flaxseed oil, etc) and evening primrose oil.

Trans fats, often produced by hydrogenating vegetable oils, are known to be harmful to health.

Fuel

Almost all oils burn in air generating heat, which can be used directly, or converted into other forms of energy by various means, for example, heating water into steam which is funneled into a turbine which turns a huge magnet. This spins and generates electricity. Oils are used as fuels for heating, lighting (e.g. kerosene lamp), powering combustion engines, and other purposes. Oils used for this purpose nowadays are usually derived from petroleum, (fuel oil, diesel oil, petrol (gasoline), etc), though biological oils such as biodiesel are gaining market share.

Heat transport

Many oils have higher boiling points than water and are electrical insulators, making them useful for liquid cooling systems, especially where electricity is used.

Lubrication

Due to their non-polarity, oils do not easily adhere to other substances. This makes oil useful as lubricant for various engineering purposes. Mineral oils are more suitable than biological oils, which degrade rapidly in most environmental conditions.

Painting

Color pigments can be easily suspended in oil, making it suitable as supporting medium for paints. The slow drying process and miscibility of oil facilitates a realistic style. This method has been used since the 15th century.

Petrochemicals

Main article: Petrochemicals

Crude oil can be processed into plastics and other substances.


Other Usages

Sulfuric acid has been called oil of vitriol in pre-scientific times, due to its syrupy consistency. Even in modern times, sulfuric acid is sometimes called vitriolic acid, and caustic personalities are called "vitriolic." Sulfuric acid is not a petrochemical, and in modern parlance, is not an oil.

Basic principle

The telephone handles two types of information: signals and voice, at different times on the same twisted pair of wires. The signaling equipment consists of a bell to ***** the user of incoming calls, and a dial to enter the phone number for outgoing calls. A calling party wishing to speak to another telephone will pick up the handset, thus operating the switch hook, which puts the telephone into active state or off hook with a resistance short across the wires, causing current to flow. The telephone exchange detects the DC current, attaches a digit receiver, and sends dial tone to indicate readiness. The user pushes the number buttons, which are connected to a tone generator inside the dial, which generates DTMF tones. The exchange connects the line to the desired line and *****s that line.

When a phone is inactive (on hook), its bell, beeper, flasher or other *****ing device is connected across the line through a capacitor. The inactive phone does not short the line, thus the exchange knows it is on hook and only the bell is electrically connected. When someone calls this phone, the telephone exchange applies a high voltage pulsating signal, which causes the sound mechanism to ring, beep or otherwise ***** the called party. When that user picks up the handset, the switchhook disconnects the bell, connects the voice parts of the telephone, and puts a resistance short on the line, confirming that the phone has been answered and is active. Both lines being off hook, the signaling job is complete. The parties are connected together and may converse using the voice parts of their telephones.

The voice parts of the telephone are in the handset, and consist of a transmitter (often called microphone) and a receiver. The transmitter, powered from the line, puts out an electric current which varies in response to the acoustic pressure waves produced by the voice. The resulting variations in electric current are transmitted along the telephone line to the other phone, where they are fed into the coil of the receiver, which is a miniature loudspeaker. The varying electric current in the coil causes it to move back and forth, reproducing the acoustic pressure waves of the transmitter. When a party "hangs up" (puts the handset on the cradle), DC current ceases to flow in that line, thus signaling to the exchange switch to disconnect the telephone call.

A Lineman's handset is a telephone designed for testing the telephone network.

[edit] History

Main articles: History of the telephone and Timeline of the telephone

Credit for inventing the electric telephone remains in dispute. As with other great inventions such as radio, television, light bulb, and computer, there were several inventors who did pioneer experimental work on voice transmission over a wire and improved on each other's ideas. Innocenzo Manzetti, Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis, Elisha Gray, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison, among others, have all been credited with pioneer work on the telephone.

The early history of the telephone is a confusing morass of claim and counterclaim, which was not clarified by the huge mass of lawsuits which hoped to resolve the patent claims of individuals. The Bell and Edison patents, however, were forensically victorious and commercially decisive.

Further information: Invention of the telephone and Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell Controversy

[edit] Early development

* 1844 — Innocenzo Manzetti first mooted the idea of a “speaking telegraph” (telephone).
* 26 August 1854 — Charles Bourseul publishes an article in a magazine L'Illustration (Paris) : "Transmission électrique de la parole".
* 22 August 1865, La Feuille d'Aoste reported “It is rumored that English technicians to whom Mr. Manzetti illustrated his method for transmitting spoken words on the telegraph wire intend to apply said invention in England on several private telegraph lines.”
* 28 December 1871 — Antonio Meucci files a patent caveat (n.3335) in the U.S. Patent Office titled "Sound Telegraph", describing communication of voice between two people by wire.
* 1874 — Meucci, after having renewed the caveat for two years, fails to find the money to renew it. The caveat lapses.
* 6 April 1875 — Bell's U.S. Patent 161,739 "Transmitters and Receivers for Electric Telegraphs" is granted. This uses multiple vibrating steel reeds in make-break circuits.
* 11 February 1876 — Gray invents a liquid transmitter for use with a telephone but does not build one.
* 14 February 1876 — Elisha Gray files a patent caveat for transmitting the human voice through a telegraphic circuit.
* 14 February 1876 — Alexander Bell applies for the patent "Improvements in Telegraphy", for electromagnetic telephones using undulating currents.
* 19 February 1876 — Gray is notified by the U.S. Patent Office of an interference between his caveat and Bell's patent application. Gray decides to abandon his caveat.
* 7 March 1876 — Bell's U.S. patent 174,465 "Improvement in Telegraphy" is granted, covering "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically … by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound."
* 10 March 1876 — The first successful telephone transmission of clear speech using a liquid transmitter when Bell spoke into his device, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” and Watson heard each word distinctly.
* 30 January 1877 — Bell's U.S. patent 186,787 is granted for an electromagnetic telephone using permanent magnets, iron diaphragms, and a call bell.
* 27 April 1877 — Edison files for a patent on a carbon (graphite) transmitter. The patent 474,230 was granted 3 May 1892, after a 15 year delay because of litigation. Edison was granted patent 222,390 for a carbon granules transmitter in 1879.