# Petrol? Or the Internal Combustion Engine?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petrol-or-the-internal-combustion-engine/275254>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 17, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petrol-or-the-internal-combustion-engine/275254 "2004-11-17T14:14:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petrol-or-the-internal-combustion-engine/275254/1 "2004-11-17T14:14:47Z")

</div>

Which was first ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petrol-or-the-internal-combustion-engine/275254/2 "2004-11-17T14:18:58Z")

</div>

> [@grienspace](#):
>
> Which was first ?

I’m pretty sure the fuel was first. It was a cleaning solvent that could be readily purchased before the engine was invented

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/petrol-or-the-internal-combustion-engine/275254/3 "2004-11-17T19:30:19Z")

</div>

Commercial distillation of petroleum dates from the middle of the 19th century. Kerosene was a big item, while the lighter fractions we now know as petrol (“gasoline”) were of limited use until the internal combustion engine was devised.