Edward Humphrey wants to know...What is the difference between coal tar and asphalt?

Question

Edward Humphrey wants to know...What is the difference between coal tar and asphalt?

Answer 1

The chemical makeup or the ingredients.

Asphalt is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits. There is some disagreement amongst chemists regarding the structure of asphalt, but it is most commonly modeled as a colloid, with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase and maltenes as the continuous phase. In U.S. terminology, asphalt (or asphalt cement) is the carefully refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils. Outside of North America, the product is called bitumen.

The primary use of asphalt (bitumen) is in road construction, where it is used as the glue or binder for the aggregate particles. The road surfacing material is usually called 'asphalt concrete' in North America or simply 'asphalt' elsewhere. The apparent interchangeability of the words 'asphalt' and 'bitumen' causes a lot of confusion outside of the road construction industry despite quite clear definitions within industry circles.



coal tar - n. - A viscous black liquid containing numerous organic compounds that is obtained by the destructive distillation of coal and used as a roofing, waterproofing, and insulating compound and as a raw material for many dyes, drugs, and paints.

Answer 2

the huge benefit is that there is countless it in Canada and that at intense gasoline costs this is going to pay to extract it. Now that Edward Humphrey knows that, is there some use he will make of that awareness?