Petroleum......fuel or skin softener??

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION


Burning petroleum jelly:

Hypothesis: I think petrol will burn in it's jelly state.

Theory: Petroleum can NOT burn on it's own. We don't know why because we can't find an answer on the internet. So, feel free to give me suggestions as to why this is true if some of you are scientists.

What we used: Petroleum jelly, flame thrower (first time I ever used that), metal container, metal cookie sheet, a pan lid to put out the fire, dryer lint and water.

What we did: We put a tiny amount of petroleum jelly in the middle of the metal container. We attempted to light it on fire with the flame thrower. My observation was that it didn't burn, it just melted. Then we put a small amount of jelly on the lint. First we lit the non-petroleum piece of lint on fire. It burned FAST! Then we lit the piece of lint with petroleum on fire. It burned also, but slower than the piece of lint without any petroleum.

So, this explains the theory that petroleum cannot burn on it's own. My hypothesis was incorrect. We do know that people use petroleum jelly on lint to help start outdoor fires (as in camping) . Petroleum jelly is used as a fuel extender.

Cool, huh??


http://youtu.be/BpCDAAUb4cw

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION