Talk:Mineral oil

message: The reference to Dr. Darlene McCord's statements about the dangers of mineral oil are from a website that appears to be a promotion disguised as an academic article for her commercial line of vitamins and skin care products. All links on the webpage seem to be related to "olivamine" and "corneotrophic skin care" which are Dr. McCord's own personal commercial line of mineral-oil free products.
She talks frequently about "studies" that indicate dangers of mineral oil but never gives a link to those studies so that others can check out her interpretation of those conclusions. jlking3 (talk) 21:38, 12 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: spam

message: If anyone has the chemical formula of mineral oil, I would find that a useful addition. 206.169.244.20
:I would say it could be written as CnH2n+2, with n ranging between roughly 5-30, depending on the fraction of the oil. Plus other hydrocarbons, unsaturated and aromatic and cyclic, but mainly alkanes. See alkane#Purification and use for more. --Shaddack 23:06, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree this is an interesting issue and deserves better treatment. The following are closely related: mineral oil (as in this article), petrolatum (petroleum jelly), paraffin wax. All are a mix of hydrocarbons, "unsaturated and aromatic and cyclic, but mainly alkanes", as you say. The ones that are more solid at room temperature have have longer chains. So paraffin wax has "between twenty and forty carbon atoms", contains "mostly unbranched alkanes" and is solid at room temperature. Petrolatum has at least some "microcrystalline wax", which in turn "contains a higher percentage of isoparaffinic (branched) hydrocarbons and naphthenic hydrocarbons" (cycloalkanes). The branching makes it stickier. Mineral oil comes in three grades: industrial, cosmetic, and medical. The most important point with the industrial grade is that they are permitted to have up to 25% aromatics (the ones with resonant, 6-sided rings). These are the ones that are highly carcinogenic (some of the famous ones, anyway), so they can't be permitted in cosmetics or vaseline. (I'm just summarizing material from Wikipedia here. More information about the constituents would be welcome.)178.38.85.238 (talk) 16:48, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: chemical formula

message: The opening paragraph says "low value"; should this be "low cost".
It seems contradictory that a low value substance would be produced in
mass quantities.
Maybe it is low cost yet highly useful.
:It's not deliberately mass-produced; it's a by-product of the mass production of gasoline. -Toptomcat 02:28, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Low Value" versus "Low Cost" 

message: Gasoline is currently considered 'expensive' hovering around 3 USD/gallon.
Looking for some mineral oil for a project that would use it as a coolant, I found prices to be around 14 USD/gallon - not what I would consider 'low cost'. Too bad I can't use gasoline as coolant.
:As an inert fluid for the purpose of electronics cooling, I'd say "low cost" is pretty much correct, considering 3M Fluorinert FC-77 costs $340 US for 1 litre from this supplier.
:Even in countries with a high fuel tax, I would say that Petrol is not expensive, and diesel is still cheaper. If you buy grill fluid (NAFTA is the main ingredient), it is 20 or 30 percent more expensive, although it may be excempt from carbon taxation. The main division line is that some fueltypes are meassured in litres and bottled, and some in cubic metres. The petrol stations store things in maximum 30 m3, and sell it of in tank-loads. That is the stuff that is heavily taxed, but less expensive. Mineral oil is spoken of as if it is a by-product, but it still is bottled....in US-pints, and therefore not the same magnitude as one cubic decimetre. --83.108.30.25 (talk) 14:48, 25 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  What low cost? 

message: Does this mean excessive use on the skin or ingesting mineral oil causes dermatitis?
Dermatitis is a skin disease, so it's probably the latter. -Toptomcat 02:28, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dermatitis? 

message: The section labeled "cleaning" asserts several useful cleaning applications of mineral oil, yet farther down under "miscellaneous" there is this statement in bold:
"Mineral oil is used in most cleaners but has been proven to have no real claeaning benefits!"
Aside from the poor grammar and spelling of that sentence, it directly contradicts the "cleaning" section. The confusing contradiction needs to be clarified with sources cited for either viewpoint or one of the sections should be explicitly disclaimed as opinion or speculation.
69.217.57.236 (talk) 18:35, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  cleaning benefits? 

message: I added a small amount of mineral oil to my last tankful of gasoline.  My 2004 cadillac typically averaged 21-23 mpg on the highway.  After adding the mineral oil, my 1st tankful is averaging 25.7 mpg for the same type of driving conditions. (I have a computer on board that gives me my mpg at anytime.)  Is this an accident or is there a reason for this?  Does anyone know?  Would some one else try this and let me know...  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.30.8.228 (talk) 22:57, 23 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mineral Oil used as a fuel additive for my car 

message: 172.129.96.53 (talk) 19:13, 12 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  tree scale 

message: The author of the article speculates that mineral oil's reputation as being comedogenic is because of industrial grades being used in skin care. No self respecting formulator uses industrial-grade mineral oil in skin care products. Rather, there are varying grades of cosmetic mineral oil, and some of them are more comedogenic than others. Also comedogenic is a relative term, because different people and skin types react differently to a given material. Most likely, however, the comedogenic rap is a myth invented by marketers to get people to buy products made with more expensive synthetic and exotic emollients, in place of cheap mineral oil. Some of them go even further by telling people that mineral oil is an industrial waste product and poison. 
The previous comment about mineral oil being toxic waste, and the molecules being too large to be absorbed by the skin is untrue. Mineral oil is composed basically of alkane hydrocarbons which are very unreactive molecules, and some of the most physiologically benign substances known to man. Mineral oil is also absorbed well by the skin, as are most oils (try it). Neither is it sold at high prices to cosmetic companies, but at the market rate, which is quite cheap. It is not a waste product of the petroleum industry, but requires the special processing (hydrogenation) and purification of crude fractions.   71.192.191.207 (talk) 02:42, 28 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mineral Oil, Comedogenic 

message: Mineral oil is the primary compressor lubricant for CFC refrigerants, like R12.  However, it should NOT be used with the HCFC refrigerants, currently in use in automobiles.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.179.134.119 (talk) 18:42, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Use with refrigerants ( such as freon) 

message: Please add the physical properties of mineral oil.
For example, it is said that the temperature limit when used as a coolant (immersion) is 300 degF.
-96.233.16.101 (talk) 03:44, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  physical properties 

message: I have moved this section to the talk page for reasons I'll explain below. It may look like I'm censoring it but in fact I'm trying to give it a chance to be defended from censoring. The stated adverse effects are too important to just believe them because an anonymous person said so. I happen to believe that having a section like this is justified, and that some of the claims here have at least some basis in fact. The  tags are fair and appropriate, but they generate a side effect of their own: when people come to this article and see such a density of  tags, they take it upon themselves to delete the information immediately rather than give other people a chance to find and cite sources. 
Therefore, the best approach is to move it here to talk, where no one has any business deleting it, and give the contributor a chance to provide some citations. Once it has some legs in that regard, it can move back to the article and stand on its own merits against anyone who challenges its content. — ¾-10 14:22, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possible detrimental effects of medical or cosmetic overuse 

message: "Mineral oil or liquid petroleum is a by-product in the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline and other petroleum based products from crude oil. It is a transparent, colorless oil composed mainly of alkanes (typically 15 to 40 carbons)"
This cannot be true, at around 20 carbons this oil cannot be liquid anymore.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.171.252.100 (talk) 13:46, 22 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Might it be that a modest amount of longer chain alkanes can fully mix with the 15-19 carbon chains and still be a liquid? In other words, perhaps one dissolves in the other up to a limit -- not too much concentration, and not too low a temperature, but still below the melting point of the longer chain. 178.38.85.238 (talk) 22:23, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: liquid - solid

message: Under the Mechanical, electrical and industrial heading, there is the line
"The dielectric constant of mineral oil ranges from 2.3 at 50 °C to 2.3 at 200 °C". It doesn't seem to be a range to me. Is it constant in between, or are these two extremes of a bell-curve like dielectric constant. Alternatively, are these different varieties of mineral oil? 118.208.5.246 (talk) 13:21, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not quite a range 

message: Firebreathing gets its own heading in the "applications," but serving as the basis for automotive engine oils is merely listed under "miscellaneous"? Something seems wrong there.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.118.229.114 (talk) 21:56, 14 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Odd categorization 

message: Ref link 12 is incorrect. "Economic Data on Candle and Incense Production and Sales" is actually at http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/600r01001/600R01001.pdf  Naturally, I've forgotten how to fix such things... (I'm seriously rusty at editing, apologies.)Teceangl (talk) 12:19, 9 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for the notification. I have updated the URL and access date accordingly. — ¾-10 20:57, 11 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Incorrect reference link 

message: After reading the article you still wonder what the heck "mineral oil" is.  Perhaps someone can actually give a definition of it. (EnochBethany (talk) 22:58, 30 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: No Clear Definition

message: Wiki's site baby oil redirects to this site. This must be a mistake, because I don't think than anoone uses mineral oil for their baby... --178.197.236.131 (talk) 13:53, 15 May 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Nope, no mistake; many baby oil products are mineral oil (with a few things added, such as fragrance). The article text already covers this. — ¾-10 01:37, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

text: I second this. I wanted to know what Baby Oil is and it's uses, then get simply redirected back to this page. To take my chances with link rot, here's what I found today: https://www.liveabout.com/what-exactly-is-baby-oil-3013423 --Zom-B (talk) 10:59, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Baby oil??? 

message: From the article:
Food grade mineral oil has an E number of E905a, although it is not approved in food products in the European Union, and incidental amounts in foods are carefully regulated.
Sourced from: Science Daily - Mineral Oil Contamination In Humans: A Health Problem?
The article text is not supported by the cited source. The source does not mention "food grade mineral oil" nor E905A. It only says that "The European Commission decided to apply a legal limit of 50 mg/kg to the mineral paraffins in Ukrainian sunflower oil" and "certain edible oils, but also certain other foods, like canned fish, frequently contain more than 50 mg/kg mineral oil components, some products us much as 1000 mg/kg". It also say "probably a majority of the mineral oil products are not 'white paraffin oils': they easily contain 30% aromatic components". But this statement only makes sense if it refers to technical (industrial) grade mineral oil, which is allowed to have aromatic components -- but is not used in food. 
In any case, the source is a short article in a web magazine, so it's hard to tell what they mean technically. 178.38.85.238 (talk) 17:29, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I removed the poorly cited text.Hu Nhu (talk) 15:20, 19 August 2021 (UTC)
thread_title: EU regulation of "food grade" mineral oil is badly sourced

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018) 

message: Why is there no mention of Mineral Oil being used as a laxative for humans when that is one of it's most common uses?
Citation:
https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-153865/mineral-oil-laxative-oral/details
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/laxative-oral-route/description/drg-20070683
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804525/
163.191.13.70 (talk) 21:00, 7 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Laxative 

message: Why does it say it is formed from pure nibba? There is nothing on the page of higher alkanes about "nibba".  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.92.245.50 (talk) 05:54, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nibba?