Origin of the term "fossil fuels"..
No, the claim that John D. Rockefeller paid scientists to call oil "fossil fuel" to create a perception of scarcity is false
. The term was in use long before Rockefeller's time. The term "fossil fuel" was first recorded in the English translation of the work of German chemist Caspar Neumann in 1759. John D. Rockefeller was not born until 1839, many decades later.
The claim that Rockefeller was responsible for the term's creation at the 1892 Geneva Convention (likely a reference to the Geneva Nomenclature Congress, which addressed chemical naming conventions) is a debunked conspiracy theory. There is no historical evidence that Rockefeller attended this event or influenced the scientific community's terminology.
The word "fossil" in the term was originally used in its older sense, meaning "obtained by digging" or "found buried in the earth," long before the word primarily came to refer to the preserved remains of long-dead organisms. The term became more widely used in the early 1900s, after the scientific understanding of their organic origin from ancient biomass (mostly marine microorganisms and plants over millions of years) was established.
Where does oil come from?
Abiogenic Petroleum Theory
AI Overview
The abiogenic theory of crude oil production is considered false by mainstream science primarily because a vast body of empirical and geochemical evidence overwhelmingly supports the biogenic theory, which states that oil forms from the decomposition of organic matter in sedimentary basins.
Key reasons and evidence against the abiogenic theory include:
- Presence of Biomarkers: Crude oil contains complex molecules called molecular fossils (biomarkers), such as porphyrins (derived from chlorophyll) and specific hydrocarbons like pristane and phytane, that can only be formed by living organisms. Abiotically produced hydrocarbons lack these specific biological "fingerprints".
- Location of Deposits: More than 99% of commercially viable oil deposits are found in sedimentary rocks (e.g., shales, sandstones, limestones) that were once ancient sea or lake beds rich in the remains of marine organisms like algae and plankton. The abiogenic theory predicts oil should be found in deep fault zones within crystalline basement rock (igneous or metamorphic rock), which is not where major fields are typically found. When oil is found in non-sedimentary rock, it has migrated there from nearby sedimentary source rock.
- Carbon Isotope Ratios: The ratio of carbon isotopes in crude oil is consistent with that found in organic matter, which preferentially selects the lighter isotope of carbon (¹²C). This isotopic signature strongly indicates a biological origin.
- Optical Activity: Crude oil exhibits optical activity (the ability to rotate polarized light), a characteristic typical of compounds synthesized by living organisms (like cholesterol), but not found in inorganically synthesized oil.
- Lack of Commercial Success: Attempts to discover commercial quantities of oil based purely on the abiogenic theory have been largely unsuccessful. A prominent example is the drilling of the Siljan Ring impact crater in Sweden, which was predicted to have significant abiogenic oil deposits but only produced uneconomical trace amounts, many of which were later shown to be from drilling additives.
- Inability to Form from Inorganic Matter at Relevant Temperatures/Pressures: While simple hydrocarbons (like methane) can form abiotically, and some lab experiments have produced trace amounts of more complex hydrocarbons under extremely high pressures and temperatures mimicking the mantle, these conditions do not explain the formation of the large, diverse, and specific molecules found in natural crude oil, nor how they would remain stable as they migrated to shallower crustal depths.
In conclusion, the abiogenic theory is not supported by the vast majority of direct geological and geochemical observations and has been scientifically discredited as a primary explanation for the Earth's significant crude oil reserves.
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