the.com/lubricant
the unsung hero standing between civilization and the scream of metal grinding metal
means A slippery substance applied between surfaces to reduce friction and let them move smoothly past each other.
from From Latin lubricare, 'to make slippery,' from lubricus, 'slippery, smooth' — the same root behind 'lubricate.' That lubricus also gave us the slipperier sense of 'lubricious,' the word for someone whose intentions slide somewhere south. English picked up 'lubricant' as a noun in the early 19th century, just as the machine age made smooth-running metal a matter of survival.
- ancient hack
- Egyptians poured water to slide pyramid stones
- whale era
- sperm whale oil once lubricated industrial machines
- space problem
- vacuum makes metals cold-weld together untouched
- graphite trick
- pencil lead is also a dry lubricant
- WD-40 myth
- it displaces water, barely lubricates anything
wd-40 — spray lubricant invented 1953, used on over 2 billion products annually
mobil 1 synthetic — motor oil brand launched 1974, dominant in high-performance engine lubrication
castrol gtx — conventional motor oil introduced 1968, one of world's best-selling lubricants