Other than fuel for humans

What purpose does oil serve. I mean in the earth, what does oil do, why does earth manufacture it and what purpose does it serve in the earth?

I read some interesting theories on this but can't find my sources. Does anyone know or can anyone hypothesize?

Oil is a liquid mineral, created by heating organic matter, under pressure. It's just one of many geologic processes. I don't understand the notion of "purpose"

about the ways that earth sustains itself and how everything it needs is here. Earth uses all of it's resources for something and it is all interdependent. So what is the oil for?

We see things get recycled in an ecology, simply because over time, organisms will tend to evolve to take advantage of any available resource. It's not by design, it's simply what tends to happen.

Oil is not really part of our ecology, although it once was. It's not around because it fulfills a "purpose" It's simply what happens to organic matter that gets trapped underground.

If anything is 'using' it, perhaps there are deep bacteria that metabolize it.

no harm? I have a sneaking suspicion that it has a "purpose" other than to feed bacteria or whatever. I have NO reason to say this except that I feel we will eventually find out what it does do that is important to our little biosphere in space.

Thank you for your response.

What does the Earth use diamonds for? Copper? Helium?

It's entirely possible there is no purpose for Earth. All this may just be a cosmic roll of the dice, and we just happen to have a ringside seat to this particularly complex corner of the universe. (A seat we owe to the very complexity.)

Or, if there is a purpose, there is no reason to think absolutely everything here on Earth serves that purpose. Some items might just be byproducts of the execution of that purpose. Like your car, which doesn't really use the carbon monoxide in the exhaust for anything. That's just a byproduct of the burning of petroleum for motive energy.

It's nice to think that everything has a purpose. But niceness does not make the idea valid.

I don't think in terms of niceness but as far as I know crystals, stones and diamonds for that matter do transmit energy waves (radio waves for one). I guess this is not a scientific notion because there is no information yet as to why the earth manufactures oil. I think it is valid but with no way to uncover it's true reason for being it would seem invalid. Abstract thought, I know.

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To a very close approximation, earth is in thermodynamic equilibrium. All the energy we receive each day radiates away. The additional amount that stays behind is very, very, very small.

The earth is warming because we are adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and that changes the thermodynamic equilibrium. The temperature has become slightly hotter.

It is absolutely true that oil represents stored solar energy. But that is also an infinitesimally small fraction of the energy that earth has received. It is in no way responsible for keeping the earth cool.

capacity. What is the purpose of storing the energy. What balance does it insure?

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and fuel our war machine to kill Muslims. Duh!!!!:sarcasm:

to get to 100 posts!!!!:party: :woohoo:

I hope that you stick around enough to get two hundred before next October.:hi:


on edit: grammar

I'll be here. I just don't post much, more of a reader than a poster.