Oil is a dark liquid found deep underground. People use it to make gasoline, plastics, polyester, and many other useful products. It’s one of the world’s major energy sources.

Geologists use satellites and sound waves to look for oil underground.

Sometimes oil collects in large underground reservoirs. Workers drill deep into the ground and pump the oil back up, like using a straw to drink from a juice box.

More often, oil is trapped in tiny spaces inside rock, like water in a sponge. To release it, water and sand are pumped into the rock at high pressure. This process is called fracking.

Oil is heated to about 700°F and sent into a tall tower called a distillation column. Because different parts of the oil heat up and boil at different temperatures, they separate into different layers.

Some of these other layers become:

The oil is then further processed using heat, pressure, and chemical reactions. Scientists break large oil molecules into smaller pieces and mix them with other ingredients (like detergents and ethanol) to make the gasoline work better.

A typical barrel of oil (42 gallons) can produce about 20 gallons of gasoline for cars. 🚗