If oil is made from living matter, why doesn't it decay?

Question

Im sure that it comes from something, but I don't get why it doesnt decay like all other living matter.

Answer 1

Coal is a "fossil fuel" which is formed from vegetation. It doesn't decay because it already has decayed and been fossilized. The term "fossil fuel" is a misnomer when used to refer to petroleum. Petroleum, which is what gasoline, natural gas, etc is made of, is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon. Despite the popular misconceptions petroleum is NOT the remains of dead dinosaurs or vegetation.

Answer 2

It is the by product of the decaying process. Put some grass in a closed container and leave it for a few months and if you have put a bit more water in it, you will have a mushy gooey mess, just like the oil you get from the decaying stuff that has been gone for a long time. Leave it long enough under the right conditions and you will have oil.

Answer 3

This question is better suited for chemistry but basically its because it has already decayed. Decay is when the living matter is broken into its component parts by bacteria, bugs and chemicals. Oil has already been changed chemically and has some of the same elements but different molecules so it reacts differntly to the environment.

Answer 4

Living things contains carbon. When death and decay occur, this matter breaks down to form stable carbon compounds that are difficult to further change. Thus, the way to cause oil to "break down" would be to burn it, as this breaks the very strong bonds within the carbon compounds. If you want a better understanding, find some organic chemistry textbooks.

Answer 5

Oil is from a class of molecules called lipids. They do "decay" because organisms do break it down to use it for energy. Imagine a grave 20 years after death, and there is nothing but bones. The lipids were digested.

However, I believe you are referring to the oil underground, I believe for that dead animals decay, and heat and pressure change (via chemical reaction) the existing lipids into oil. Down there, there is nothing to eat it, and so it can exist for ever (pretty much.)

Answer 6

It is living matter that has decayed over million of years ago.

Answer 7

It's through decaying, has been for a long long time.

Vegetable oil, which isn't decayed matter will go rancid.

Answer 8

Oil formed from the remains of marine organisms, often planktonic, that died & fell to the backside of the sea the place they have been coated w/ sediments. Over thousands and thousands of years those sediments endured to cover the remains springing up large tension. This brought about the formation of what all of us understand as petroleum. Coal, on the otherhand, is created from the remains of plant life, extra relatively land or terrestrial plant life. the two are hydrocarbon compounds that comprise the climate carbon & hydrogen. the place did the hydrogen & carbon come from? From residing issues. All residing issues are carbon-based. In organic and organic chemistry, petroleum is seen to be a liquid alkane it incredibly is basically a very long chain of carbons linked jointly w/ single bonds.

Answer 9

Because it has an immortal soul.

Oil isn't living matter - it is derived from living matter. You need to take a short course on organic chemistry.

Answer 10

Because it IS the decay!