"elaion" - 1 õppematerjal

PETROLEUM

The use of fossil fuels such as petroleum can have a negative impact on Earth's biosphere, releasing pollutants and greenhouse gases into the air and damaging ecosystems through events such as oil spills. Concern over the depletion of the earth's finite reserves of oil, and the effect this would have on a society dependent on it, is a field known as peak oil. Etymology The word "petroleum" comes from Greek: πέτρα (petra) for rock and Greek: ἔλαιον (elaion) for oil. The term was found (in the spelling "petraoleum") in 10th-century Old English sources. It was used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer, also known as Georgius Agricola. In the 19th century, the term "petroleum" was frequently used to refer to mineral oils produced by distillation from mined organic solids such as cannel coal (and later oil shale), and