RHough wrote:Marc wrote:
Exactly! It's all "synthesized" through one process or another, the term is being abused for its value as a marketing buzzword, the presumption being that "synthetic" is somehow inherently superior to whatever the alternative might be..."organic", perhaps?
Off topic only a bit ...
At one time the worst kept secret in the oil business was that it cost *less* to produce 'synthetic' oil than to refine dino oil. They just laughed all the way to the bank.
And the most funny part is that Synthetic oil IS dino oil. The base stocks are all the same. It come out of the ground. Dino oil requires different mineral additives and different processing to link the lubricating additives to the oil molecule.
The actual lubricating molecules that are added to the oil base that do the heavy lifting ( anti-scuff, high temp properties, extreme pressure when necessary, anti-oxidization etc..) are whats synthetic....not the base oil.
I had a very laughable conversation last year with an ultra tree-hugger whose information was based nowhere in the universe of reality.....she stated.....
"we can get rid of all petroleum oil usage by going to electric cars fueled by wind power and solar, or cars fueled by alcohol and bio fuels"....I asked her where she though the lubricating oils for said cars and industry in general were going to come from. She stated....as if it were common knowledge....."from synthetic oil which has been around for decades"....
.....
...It was so fun popping her bubble and watching her brain run out. Especially when I informed her that the only mineral that allows electric cars, hybrid cars...and wind turbines to exist....is the profligate use of neodymium (rare earth magnets in the motors).
Neodymium is a by-product of aluminum/bauxite mining and is very dirty. There is not one operating neodymium mine in the United states and has not been for about 25 years.
It also cannot be recycled after being cut, ground machined or shaped due to the contamination from the tooling. Ray
