Other Nasty gases, Dr. D. Penney

Methane

Natural Gas:

Natural gas is produced, sometimes along with oil, by drilling into the earth's crust where pockets were trapped millions of years ago. Once the gas is brought to the surface, it is refined to remove impurities, like water, other gases, and sand. Then it is transmitted through pipelines. Residences and smaller businesses buy gas from a utility. An odorant is added to the gas as a safety measure so that people will be able to tell if there is a gas leak, or if they forget to turn off an appliance.

Brief History:
Colonel Edwin Drake, a former railroad conductor, struck oil 69 feet below the surface in Titusville, PA, August 27, 1859. This discovery fostered the first gas transport pipeline in the U.S. A two inch diameter pipe ran 5.5 miles from the well to the town. Although the properties of oil and gas were obvious previous to this discovery, the substances was expensive and difficult to obtain. Drake's breakthrough spawned what would become one of the largest industries.

During most of the 19th century, natural gas and other fuel gases were used almost exclusively as a source of light. Unless a home was lucky enough to have a natural seepage in its back yard, there was no feasible mechanism to transport the gas into a home for heating or other uses. Thus it was used primarily to light city streets. After the 1890's, however, electricity predominated as the preferred source of light energy. With the invention of thermostatic controls, natural gas was used increasingly for space heating.

One of the first long natural gas pipelines was built in 1891. It carried gas from fields in central Indiana 120 miles to Chicago. The poor quality of the piping and the inability to join sections of pipe effectively retarded the development of a large transportation network until the late 1920's. During WW II, advances in metallurgy, welding techniques, and pipe manufacture overcame the technological barriers and it became widely available afterward. The post-war construction boom lasted into the 1960's and was responsible for the construction of thousands of miles of gas pipeline.