Cities that are very far away from natural gas wells often use fuel oil to heat their homes. Lubricating oil is heavy and sticky. If two parts of a machine are rubbing against each other, you can put lubricating oil between them to make them slippery. We put lubricating oil in our cars and lawn mowers and snowmobiles to stop the engine parts from wearing out so quickly. Each molecule has 26-40 carbon atoms.
Petroleum jelly is halfway between liquid and solid.
It's a petroleum jelly that you can put on your skin to make it soft and smooth. Asphalt is a very soft solid. It's used to surface roads. Paraffin has 18 or more carbon atoms in each molecule. It's a soft, white solid that is often used to make candles, to coat paper to make wax paper, and to cover homemade jams and jellies.