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Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. [1] . Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil, which comes from the Dutch word traan ("tear drop"). Sperm oil, a special kind of oil obtained from the head cavities of sperm whales, differs chemically from ordinary whale oil: it is composed mostly of liquid wax.
whale oil, any oil derived from any species of whale, including sperm oil from sperm whales, train oil from baleen whales, and melon oil from small toothed whales. From the 16th century through the 19th century, whale oil was used principally as lamp fuel and for producing soap.
Whale oil is oil that has been extracted from a whales lubber through the process of boiling strips or slabs of the whales blubber and extracting the oil that comes out of it.
Two kinds of oil came from whales: oil rendered from the blubber, and the higher-grade spermaceti. All whales have a thick layer of blubber that keeps their body temperature regulated as they travel through cold water; at a high enough temperature this blubber can be rendered into oil.
Oil From Whale’s Blubber Oil was the main product sought from whales, and it was used to lubricate machinery and to provide illumination by burning it in lamps. When a whale was killed, it was towed to the ship and its blubber, the thick insulating fat under its skin, would be peeled and cut from its carcass in a process known as “flensing.”
Whale oil, or train oil as it used to be called from the Dutch traan, meaning a tear or drop, is oil from baleen whales. It is a true fat consisting largely of triglycerides, a compound formed from glycerol and fatty acids.
Like whale blubber, oil as a dominant source of energy will gradually be phased out over the next decades. Here's what that transition may look like.