Does Gasoline Really Come From Dinosaurs?
Paleontologists: “You’re burning our fossils for your cars!”
Growing up, I always heard that petroleum products, including gasoline, plastic, rubber, and that weird petroleum jelly that you rubbed on cuts and scrapes, were all derived from the crushed remains of ancient dinosaurs.
I always thought that there was a sort of poetic justice to it, especially when I played with my plastic toy dinosaurs. Great beasts had walked the Earth millions of years ago, and were now seeing a second life, of sorts, as interpreted representations of those same shapes.
Also, I envisioned animals being pressed beneath the ground until they turned into goop. This goop, I figured, would be black and tarry — just like crude oil.
We also refer to oil (and coal, and natural gas) as fossil fuels. Where does the “fossil” in that name derive from?
Now, filling up my car at the gas pump, I have to wonder: is oil really made from dinosaurs? Am I pumping my gas tank full of tiny crushed-up bits of Brontosaurus?
If so, why haven’t I heard any paleontologists protesting about the destruction of their beloved dinosaur fossils in fossil fuels?
