PETROLEUM (CRUDE OIL) Substance believed to have been formed hundreds of millions of years ago when dead plants and animals were buried beneath sediments such as mud, sand, silt, or clay, at the bottom of the ocean Petroleum is a fossil fuel. Petroleum is a mixture that can be separated.

FRACTION Petroleum part with its own boiling point. gasoline kerosene jet fuel heating oil diesel fuel industrial fuel oil lubricating oil asphalt

REFINING Process of separating petroleum into its fractions by heating, condensing, and collecting each separate part of the mixture.

PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCT Product made either directly or indirectly from petroleum Synthetic polymers Ex) paint, plastic

MONOMER Smaller molecule that bonds with other smaller molecules to form a chain molecule called a polymer monomer + monomer + monomer, etc. = polymer

POLYMER Large, chain-like molecule made of smaller molecules (called monomers) chemically bonded together.

NATURAL POLYMER Polymer molecule found in nature Ex) wool, silk, cotton, protein

POLYMERIZATION Process of chemically bonding monomers to form a polymer.

SYNTHETIC POLYMER Polymer that does not occur naturally Formed by people from petrochemicals

PROPERTIES of PETROLEUM (CRUDE OIL) NONRENEWABLE RESOURCE Exists as a liquid beneath Earth’s surface Exists as a solid in some rocks and sand Can be black, brown, green, red, yellow, or colorless Can have high viscosity (flow slowly) or low viscosity (flow freely) Mixture that can be separated based on the boiling point of each component