CHEMICAL TREASURE TROVE 



into the earth's crust, a very heavy, very light-colored 

 oily liquid and a colorless gas have gushed forth. There 

 is nothing new in this underground alliance of gas and 

 oil, but this gas and oil are different from ordinary 

 natural gas and petroleum. In fact, they are so distinc- 

 tive that conservation commissioners had trouble mak- 

 ing up their minds whether to rate these operations as 

 petroleum or gas wells. The drillers call them "gasoline 

 wells," the chemists, "gas-condensates." You will hear 

 a lot about these gas-condensates in the near future, for 

 they are going to do things to high-octane gasoline and 

 give us some new Southern industries. 



This new type of gas-oil has been discovered all 

 around the coastal region from Alabama to Texas, in 

 Arkansas and California, in the Rocky Mountains, and 

 up in the Turner Valley field of Canada. In other words, 

 gas-condensates are not a local phenomenon, and it is 

 fascinating, indeed, to speculate how they are formed 

 deep within the earth where the temperature is high 

 and the pressure reaches about a thousand pounds to 

 the square inch. 



When compressed, most gases become liquid. Upon 

 this principle liquefied hydrocarbon gases are delivered 

 to you in stout cylinders as "bottled gas" for the kitchen 

 range. Liquefied carbonic acid gas supplies the fizz 

 for the soda fountains. Within the earth natural gas is 

 maintained in this liquefied state by the tremendous 

 pressure. When an underground reservoir is tapped, it 



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