What’s the Big Deal About Oil?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Oil is one of the most valuable resources in the world today.

Countries with access to oil are guaranteed wealth and power because other countries are willing to pay large sums for oil. It is so valuable that oil has even been given the nickname black gold.

• What do you think the nickname black gold means?

In this lesson, learn how oil became a major world resource, what oil is used for, and where the top oil-producing countries are located.

Energy is power from a source used to make heat, operate machinery, and make things move. For centuries, people relied on wood for energy.

Early humans would burn wood to create heat, and a few hundred years later, burning wood was used to power machines.

Later, people discovered that coal could produce four times more energy than wood and was much cheaper to secure. Oil from whale blubber, or the fatty part of a whale, was also found to be a decent, cheap form of energy.

Using coal and whale oil to heat homes and power machinery soon became problematic.

Burning coal created black smoke that polluted the air. The smoke could even create health problems if too much were inhaled.

Securing oil from whale blubber required hunting and killing whales, which caused whales to become endangered.

During the Industrial Revolution, which began in the 1800s, hundreds of new inventions emerged that made life easier, but many were powered by energy.

People also began leaving their farms to move to cities. Cities provided thousands of jobs in the form of factories.

Factories were full of machines that created textiles, furniture, and all the necessities of life. As a result, people began searching for cheaper resources to power the machines in factories.

Oil from the ground, also called petroleum or crude oil, was first discovered in the mid-1800s. In the United States, oil was first discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859.

It soon became the method used for lighting homes and was used to power the machines of the Industrial Revolution. Remember, electricity had not been developed yet, so people powered their homes and businesses with oil.

Pipelines were laid across the country to transport oil from oil reserves, or places where oil was discovered, to major cities.

Oil became a major business in the United States overnight because everyone needed oil to light their homes and make their businesses function. People who owned oil companies, such as John D. Rockefeller, became some of the wealthiest individuals in the entire country.

In 1901, the largest oil reserve in the United States was discovered in Texas. This caused the oil companies to become even more competitive with one another.

Look at this present-day oil field in Texas.

In 1911, some of the oil companies even had to go to the Supreme Court because they were using unethical measures, such as bribing members of Congress and not paying their workers enough money, to try to get rid of all the other oil companies.

The Supreme Court decided these practices were unlawful and restricted any measures the oil companies took to control the oil market.

In 1917, the United States entered World War I, and oil became even more important because it was used to power military machines and weapons.

Today, oil is still used to power machines and factories, power military machines and weapons, and to heat some homes. It is also used to power almost all forms of transportation.

It makes items you would probably never think of. Check out What is Oil Used For? to see a complete list of things made from petroleum.

• What three items are you most surprised to see on this list?
• Why do you think oil is such an important world resource?
• What impact does oil have on your daily life?

Move to the Got It? section to see where you can find oil.