Mineral spirits

• To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
• Subject: Mineral spirits
• From: "Eric Davidson" <edavidson-at-icva.gov> (by way of Terry Fritz <twf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
• Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 11:28:19 -0700
• Approved: twf-at-verinet-dot-com

Matt, Robert and Kerry et al,

Mineral spirits is not mineral oil, nor is it a single compound. Mineral
spirits, also known as ligroin,  is similar to petroleum benzin,
Skellysolve or naphtha.  Ligroin (mineral spirits) however, consists of the
higher boiling fractions (135-145 C) of petroleum (aliphatic hydrocarbons
mostly, but probably some aromatics like benzene, toluene, xylene and some
polycyclics are in there too).  The flash point is around zero C.  Mineral
OIL on the other hand is liquid petrolatum.  Its colorless, odorless,
tasteless and has a much higher flash point (I dont know what it is right
off hand). Mineral OIL is also a mixture of compounds, all very long chain
aliphatic hydrocarbons (just to the liquid side of paraffin). Unlike mineral
spirits, mineral OIL is practically non toxic, and is sometimes used as a
laxative. I hope this helps you deceide which compound will best suit your
needs.

Eric

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