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Gasoline or petrol is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting mostly of
aliphatic hydrocarbons and enhanced with aromatic hydrocarbons toluene, benzene
or iso-octane to increase octane ratings, primarily used as fuel in internal
combustion engines. Most Commonwealth countries or former Commonwealth
countries, with the exception of Canada, use the term "petrol" (abbreviated from
petroleum spirit). The term "gasoline" is commonly used in North America where
it is often shortened in colloquial usage to "gas". This should be distinguished
in usage from genuinely gaseous fuels used in internal combustion engines such
as liquified petroleum gas (which is stored pressurised as a liquid but is
allowed to return naturally to a gaseous state before combustion). The term
mogas, short for motor gasoline, distinguished automobile fuel from aviation
gasoline, or avgas. The word "gasoline" can also be used in British English to
refer to a different petroleum derivative historically used in lamps; however,
this use is now uncommon.
History
Early uses
Before internal-combustion engines were invented in the mid 19th century,
gasoline was sold in small bottles as a treatment against lice and their eggs.
At that time, the word Petrol was a trade name. This treatment method is no
longer common, because of the inherent fire hazard and the risk of dermatitis.
In the U.S., gasoline was also sold as a cleaning fluid to remove grease stains
from clothing. Before dedicated filling stations were established, early
motorists would buy gasoline in cans to fill their tanks.
The name gasoline is similar to that of other petroleum products of the day,
most notably petroleum jelly, a highly purified heavy distillate, which was
branded Vaseline. The trademark Gasoline, however, was never registered, and
thus became generic.
Gasoline was also used in kitchen ranges and for lighting, and is still
available in a highly purified form, known as camping fuel or white gas, for use
in lanterns and portable stoves.
During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), pétrole was stockpiled in Paris for
use against a possible German-Prussian attack on the city. Later in 1871, during
the revolutionary Paris Commune, rumours spread around the city of pétroleuses,
women using bottles of petrol to commit arson against city buildings.
Etymology
The word "gasolene" was coined in 1865 from the word gas and the chemical suffix
-ine/-ene. The modern spelling was first used in 1871. The shortened form "gas"
was first recorded in American English in 1905. Gasoline originally referred to
any liquid used as the fuel for a gasoline-powered engine, other than diesel
fuel or liquefied gas. Methanol racing fuel would have been classed as a type of
gasoline.
The word "petrol" was first used in reference to the refined substance as early
as 1892 (it previously referred to unrefined petroleum), and was registered as a
trade name by British wholesaler Carless, Capel & Leonard . Although it was
never officially registered as a trademark, Carless's competitors used the term
"Motor Spirit" until the 1930s.
In Germany and some other European countries, gasoline is called Benzin. The
usage does not derive from Bertha Benz, who used chemist shops to purchase the
gasoline for her famous drive from Mannheim to Pforzheim in 1888, but from the
chemical benzene.
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