Catalytic Reforming

We just learned about the Naphtha.

Another part of refining oil is Catalytic Reforming.

This is something using chemistry and a very expensive metal called platinum to turn the naphtha into something called reformates.


(from: wikipedia - catalytic reforming)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rotor

Naphtha

We just learned about the Distillation.

Another part of refining oil is Naphtha.

After some of the things like distillation and desulfurization, the oil is turned into something called naphtha.
This is a flammable liquid that is sometimes sold as fuel like white gas.

In history, the Greek word νάφθα (naphtha) is used in a story of a fiery furnace.
In a book from around 200 BC, there is a story about a thick water used by Nehemiah called Nephthar.

Some mixtures of naphtha have been used to make soap, and also the chemical napalm.


(from: wikipedia - naphtha)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lug Nut

Distillation

We just learned about the Desalter.

Another part of the way that oil is cleaned up or refined is called Distillation.

When a liquid is boiled, it turns into a gas called steam.
When the steam cools, it turns back into a liquid, which is called condensation.
The liquid boiling and condensing over and over and being collected in different places is called distillation.


(from: wikipedia - continuous distillation)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rims

Desalter

We just learned about the Oil Refinery.

One part of refining oil is called a Desalter.

When crude oil comes out of the ground it has a bunch of chemicals in it that need to be removed to make it more useful.
Usually oil ends up getting mixed up with water which can have a lot of other things mixed in it like calcium, sodium and magnesium chlorides.
These are all called salts, and aren't the same as the salt you eat but they have to be removed from the oil.

The crude oil gets heated up really hot and then mixed with some fresh water.
It gets pumped into another tank that uses electricity to get the water and salts to go to the bottom of the tank and get separated from the oil.
The desalted oil on top then gets pumped out.


(from: wikipedia - desalter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cooling Fan

Oil Refinery

We just learned about the Oil Platform.

Another part of how we use oil is an Oil Refinery.

When the oil is pumped out of the oil well in the ground, it needs to be cleaned up and made into something that can be used in engines or to make other things that need oil.
An oil refinery is the place the oil is brought to, and cleaned up in what is called refining.


(from: wikipedia - oil refinery)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Radiator

Oil Platform

We just learned about the Drilling Rig.

Another way to drill for oil is an Oil Platform or Offshore Platform.

This is a big building out in the water that has drills going down into the water to the ocean floor.
The drill digs down below the ocean floor to drill for oil and then bring it back up to the oil platform.

Some oil platforms have big metal posts holding them still in the water, and some are just floating on top of the water.




(from: wikipedia - oil platform)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Car Battery

Drilling Rig

We just learned about the Oil Derrick.

Another part of how we get oil is a Drilling Rig.

We learned about oil wells and oil derricks.
A drilling rig is just a bigger bunch of machines and tools used to get oil that are all grouped together in one place called a "rig".


(from: wikipedia - drilling rig)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Manual Transmission

Oil Derrick

We just learned about the Pumpjack.

Another part of how we get oil is the Oil Derrick.

A derrick is a really tall tower that helps out with all of the drilling.
It can be used to hold the pulleys, levers, drills or any other things that are used to drill into the ground and get the oil out.


(from: wikipedia - derrick)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Automatic Transmission

Pumpjack

We just learned about the Oil Well.

One part of drilling oil out of the ground is a thing called a Pumpjack.

This is a machine that has a long metal beam hooked up to a machine that pushes and pulls the jack up and down almost like a see-saw.
The pumping motion helps pull the oil out of the ground so it can be collected and taken somewhere to clean up and be used for other things.


(from: wikipedia - pumpjack)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Starter

Oil Well

We just learned about the Oil Sands.

Another part of making oil is a Oil Well.

When oil is found in the ground and someone wants to get it out, they have to make something called an oil well.
Just like a well that is dug down deep for water, the same thing goes for oil.

The oil well is dug deep down using drills, and then the oil is pumped out of the hole where it was found.


(from: wikipedia - oil well)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Alternator

Oil Sands

We just learned about the Crude Oil.

One type of oil found in the ground is Oil Sands, also called tar sands, crude bitumen or bituminous sands.

In places like Canada, the oil is not a runny liquid like in other places, it is more like a chunk of sticky clay that is mixed up with sand.
That chunky type of clay without the sand is called bitumen or asphalt.
When you see a road or parking made using hard black chunky stuff that is rolled over with a steamroller, that is ashphalt.

If you want to use that sandy bitumen oil for something like a car engine, it takes a lot of work and uses a lot of other things like natural gases, acids, salts, other chemicals, water or heat to try and change it.
Because it is harder to get liquid oil from it, these oil sands are very expensive to refine, and it can cause a lot of pollution changing it into liquid oil.


(from: wikipedia - oil sands)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fuel Injector

Crude Oil

We just started to learn about Making Oil, which is also called petroleum.

One part of making oil is Crude Oil.

Before oil can be used in car engines or used to make things like plastics, it has to be cleaned up.
Almost like drinking water from a river might have a bunch of dirty things in it, oil can be the same way.

Crude oil means oil that is just found underground, and has to be cleaned up.
Sometimes it is floating above some water and below some gas, and doesn't need much cleaning.
Other times it is mixed up with sand and has to be filtered out. This is called bitumen or asphalt.
Other times it is thick almost like jelly and has to be made into more of a liquid. This is called heavy oil.


(from: wikipedia - petroleum)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Carburetor

Making Oil

We just learned about the Chrome Browser, and a lot of other things about Computers!

Let's learn a little about something else.

One of the things that is used a lot in our world is Oil.
We use oil to create gasoline for cars, but also to make moving things slippery.
Oil is also used for things like making plastics, or even things like bubble gum and toothpaste.

But how do we get toothpaste from the sticky dark oil in the ground?
The way that we get oil out of the ground is called refining.

The oil refineries take the sticky dark oil, and turn it into many different types of oils that can then be sold for use in cars, plastics or other things.


(from: wikipedia - petroleum refining processes)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Oil Filter

Chrome

We've learned about the first internet Web Browsers like WorldWideWeb, Mosaic, Netscape and Firefox, Internet Explorer and Edge.

Another type of browser is Chrome.

In 2008 Google thought that the internet browsers out there were not good enough, so they made their own, and called it Chrome.
It is still very popular today and a lot of people use it.


(from: wikipedia - google chrome)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Oil Pump

Internet Explorer and Edge

We've learned about the first internet Web Browsers like WorldWideWeb, Mosaic, Netscape and Firefox.

Another few Internet Browsers are Internet Explorer and Edge.

In 1995 around the same time that Netscape was starting up, Microsoft made their own web browser called Internet Explorer, also sometimes just called "IE" for short.
IE went through lots of changes from 1995 through 2020, and then Microsoft decided to replace IE with a new browser called "Edge".


(from: wikipedia - internet explorer)

(from: wikipedia - microsoft edge)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Motor Oil

Netscape and Firefox

We just learned about the Web Browser, and some of the first browsers called WorldWideWeb and Mosaic.

Another kind of browser was called Netscape, which then later turned into a browser called Firefox.

The browser Netscape was made by Marc Andreeson, one of the same people who worked on the Mosaic browser.
Netscape brought along a lot of big changes, like colors, animations, and lots of programming that people could do in browsers.

Later on the Netscape browser went away, but the people who worked on it came back later with a new browser called Firefox.





Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Long Block

Web Browser

We just learned about the operating systems called Linux and Unix.

Another thing that runs on your computer is a Web Browser, also called an internet browser, or just a browser.

This is the thing you use to go on the web and do Google searches, open up web pages, watch youtube videos or go to your email.
Web browsers were first invented around 1990, and people very quickly saw how useful it was to go to web pages on the internet.

The first web browser was called WorldWideWeb and was made by Tim Berners Lee.
Tim created the idea of the world wide web, to help people share information easily.
He shared his idea with the world, and the rest is history!

The first really popular browser was called Mosaic, and was made by Marc Andreeson.
It was very simple, and mostly just had grey backgrounds with pictures and words and things to click on.
After that a lot of other browsers came along where people could do colors, animations, videos and a lot of other fancy programming.





Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Long Block

Linux and Unix

We just learned about the Mac OS.

Another two Operating Systems are called Unix and Linux.

Unix was created in 1970, and Linux was created in 1991 to be a lot like Unix but free.

Unix and Linux are very powerful systems, and unlike Windows and Mac OS you can use a whole bunch of different programs that act like windows for the things you want to do.
Things like Gnome, KDE or X11 are all programs that are separate from Unix and Linux, and you can pick which one you like best based on how they look.



(from: wikipedia - linux)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valvetrain

Mac OS

We just learned about the Microsoft Windows.

Another type of operating system is called Mac OS, which stands for Macintosh Operating System.

This is a program made by a company called Apple, that has their headquarters in Cupertino, California.

If you have an Apple computer like a Macbook, when you turn it on it will start up Mac OS, and let you do things like go to the internet on your web browser, watch videos, work with pictures or listen to music.
Mac OS and Microsoft Windows are very similar, and both let you do a bunch of different things at the same time, with different spaces for each program that you can open, close, move or resize.

Apple first came out with Mac OS in 1984, called "Macintosh System Software" or just "System 1". Years later they would come out with a newer Mac OS and give it a higher number like System 2 or System 3. Later on they just started calling it Mac OS 7, 8 or 9.
When they were making Mac OS 10, they used "X" for the Roman numeral 10, and then had a bunch of different names for Mac OS X named after wild cats, like Mac OS Tiger or Mac OS Lion.
Now they have changed to using the name of a place, like macOS Yosemite, or macOS Monterey.

Every time they come up with a new name or number for MacOS they add new things the operating system can do.




(from: wikipedia - macintosh operating systems)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Tappet

Microsoft Windows

We just learned about the Operating System.

One type of Operating System is called Microsoft Windows.

This is a program made by a company called Microsoft, that has their headquarters building in Redmond Seattle.
If you have a windows computer, when you turn it on it will start up Windows and let you do things like go to the internet on your web browser, work on spreadsheets, watch videos or listen to music.
The idea of "Windows" is that each of those different programs is in it's own little window space, and you can open or close as many windows as you want.

Windows first came out in 1985 with Windows 1.0.
Every year or two they make changes to Windows to try and make it faster or better, and come out with another Windows with a new name.
Sometimes they call it Windows and then a number that keeps going up, like Windows 1, Windows 2, Windows 3.11.
Other times they name it after the year it comes out, like Windows 95 because it came out in the year 1995.
And then some other times they give it a special name like Windows NT, Windows XP, or Windows Vista.

Whatever the name is, every time they came out with a new Windows they would give it a new name and add some new things it could do.





(from: wikipedia - microsoft windows)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Tappet