Synthetic motor oil is much closer to vegan cooking oil than you might think. While that doesn’t mean you’d ever want to eat food fried up in a pot of motor oil, the two different materials do contain many similar compounds. In fact, all oils are essentially made of the same elements at the most basic level.
By definition, oils are substances that dissolve in certain liquids but not in water. They have a rather greasy feel, which is why they’re often used as a lubricant. The source of synthetic and vegan oils is very different, but even then, the sources of these two fluids share some similarities. Here’s a look at how synthetic auto oil is similar to vegan cooking oil.
Making Synthetic Oil Products
Companies that manufacture high-end synthetic oil products use artificially modified organic compounds. Chemists use the term organic to mean anything that contains a significant number of carbon atoms, which describes almost all oils. Engineers have found that combining petroleum products from the ground with several other compounds found in nature produces synthetic oils that can stand up to quite a bit of abuse.
Technicians often prefer synthetic treatments to natural motor oil because it can hold up to much higher temperatures. That’s why hot rod enthusiasts and race car drivers rely on it. Vegan cooking oils come from a variety of beans, such as canola seeds and the fruit of peanut plants. Farmers collect these agricultural products and press them to extract grease under a great deal of pressure. By mixing them together at just the right temperature, health food companies have been able to produce excellent-tasting concoctions.
Ironically, this focus on temperature is another area where both types of oil are more or less like one another. Cooking and synthetic oils are both capable of withstanding temperatures that would boil water many times over. They also have moderate freezing temperatures, which again make them able to stay fluid in situations where water would start to freeze. This is due to the fact that they’re so similar on a molecular level. Since they’re both quite greasy, other substances can flow right over them without running into much resistance. That being said, synthetic and vegan oils aren’t alike in many other ways.
Main Differences Between Types Of Oil
All mineral oils come from wells drilled into the earth, which makes them completely unsuitable for consumption. These oils are used to produce synthetic treatments, which is why you can’t put them in your frying pan. Likewise, you wouldn’t ever want to pour vegan cooking oil into your car’s engine. Doing so can do quite a bit of damage, though some people have used it as a lubricant on hinges and other non-automotive parts in their garage. It naturally has plenty of uses in the kitchen, where it’s used to make a wide variety of rice and vegetable dishes.
Since it’s not designed with cooking in mind, synthetic oil probably wouldn’t taste great, but it does its own job admirably. That’s why so many mechanics continue to recommend it over more traditional types of motor oil.
