The Discovery of Natural Gas

Do you know Natural Gas? You must know, but do you know how it is found? Follow me to know more about it.

Millions and millions of years ago, most of natural gas is brought out from under the ground. Sometimes, such things as lightning strikes would ignite natural gas that was escaping from under the earth’s crust. The natural gas that seeped out from underground was burnt and this would create a fire that puzzled most early civilization and were the root of much myth and superstition.

One of the most famous of these types of flames was found in ancient Greece, on Mount Parnassus approximately 1000 B.C. A goat herdsman came across what looked like a 'burning spring', a flame rising from a fissure in the rock. The Greeks, believing it to be of divine origin, built a temple on the flame. This temple housed a priestess who was known as the Oracle of Delphi, giving out prophecies she claimed were inspired by the flame.

These types of springs became prominent in the religions of India, Greece, and Persia. Unable to explain where these fires came from, they were often regarded as divine, or supernatural. It wasn't until about 500 B.C. that the Chinese discovered the potential to use these fires to their advantage. Finding places where gas was seeping to the surface, the Chinese formed crude pipelines out of bamboo shoots to transport the gas, where it was used to boil sea water, separating the salt and making it drinkable.