Talk:Kerogen
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I am not a chemist but I don't understand why kerogen is made up of chemical compounds but doesn't come with formulas - such as methane is CH4. Someone with more knowledge Dr. J. F. Kenney wrote to me:
- "If you can find out what "kerogen" is, please do let me know.This magical substance, - which occupies a position vis a vis petroleum, as did the Philosopher's Stone in medieval times, - cannot be found in any chemical database. I should like to know: (1), its chemical formula; (2), its stereographic structure; and (3), its chemical potential (i.e., its molar Gibbs free enthalpy of formation.)"
(comment by 216.12.62.149)
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- I am not a chemist either, however your confusion lies in thinking that kerogen is a chemical compound. It isn't. It is a material composed of an extreamly variable assortment of very high molecular weight organic molecules (mostly carbon and hydrogen but also some oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen etc) - similar in concept to gasoline except that gasoline is composed of a less variable assortment of low molecular weight hydrocarbons. The variability of the compounds that make up kerogen means that determining their individual chemical formulas is very difficult and pointless. Instead they are typically described by average Hydrogen:Carbon ratios, as they are in this article. Toiyabe 17:25, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] 'Formation' section
I've commented out the 'Formation' section pending improvement ... it contained only a not-very-clear parenthetical until the last edit when a wikipedia self-referential comment was added. Could someone take a look at this section and add at least one clear text content sentence and bring the section back into the article? Thank you. Regards, User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 12:43, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Etymology
...of the word would be very illustrative. Thank you. Typofier 18:45, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
