In many climates, there are times of the year when it can get fairly cold. If we were not able to create artificial heat, we would freeze. And even if you live in a warmer climate, all areas tend to get dark. So finding ways to heat and light the environment are very important.
What is amazing to me is that many of the substances God has provided to create heat and light have the quality of lower than average freezing points. Things like heating oil, kerosene, gasoline, whale oil, and so on stay liquid (or refuse to become rock solid) at relatively cold temperatures--typically at far lower temperatures than water-based liquids.
Liquids tend to work better in heating and illuminating devices, like furnaces or lamps. As a liquid, they can travel up a wick, which is a more controlled way to create the heat and light. Liquids can be poured on other substances (like charcoal) and absorbed, making them better at providing heat. It is easier to control the rate of consumption of these highly combustable substances in a liquid form.
Imagine how hard it would be to run a car if gasoline froze at warm temperatures. Heating devices would be fairly worthless if you had to first heat up the device before you could use their fuel.
It is so wonderful that God designed combustable fuels to have low freezing points. Life would be so much more difficult otherwise. The master chemist does it again.
Posts
