Whale oil
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Description
A yellowish oil obtained from the blubber of whales (order Cetacea, such as Balaena mysticetus). Whale oil was extracted from the blubber with steam. For most whales the oil is composed of the glycerides of fatty acids: oleic (35.2%), stearic (2.8%), palmitic (15.6%), myristic (9.3%), palmitoleic (14.4%) and others. Sperm whales, however, produce a translucent, wax-like material, called Spermaceti, with a primary composition of wax esters. Spermaceti is odorless and less oily than other whale oils and as such was the preferred material, for oil lamps as well as for manufacturing soaps, candles, and as a lubricant. By 1972 the sperm whales were listed as an endangered species.
Synonyms and Related Terms
sperm oil; sod oil
Physical and Chemical Properties
- Saponification no. = 180-197
- Iodine no. = 105-135
- Density = 0.920-0.927 g/ml
- Refractive Index = 1.460
Resources and Citations
- G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 867
- Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "whale." Accessed 20 Oct. 2004 .
- CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, Robert Weast (ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, v. 61, 1980 Comment: density=0.892, refl index=1.460, iodine value=120, saponification value=195, lauric acid=0.2%, myristic acid=9.3%, palmitic acid=15.6%, stearic acid=2.8%, palmitoleic acid-14.4%, oleic acid=35.2%
- Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976
- Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997
- The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998
- Wikipedia: Whale oil Accessed March 2025