Oil #4: How Oil Got Into Everything

Some of Planet Money's oil is going to end up in someone's gas tank-- and some of it might end up in someone's someone's sandwich. On today's show, we follow our oil to a refinery, where it'll become gasoline, propane, and fertilizer.

Oil doesn't just fuel the factories that make our stuff. It's in our sneakers, our clothes, and the computer or phone that you're looking at right now. Today on the show, we meet one chemist who helped put oil into everything — and another chemist who's trying to get it out.

This is episode four of five.

Find the rest of the five part series here. And some photos here.

Correction: In this story we say that formaldehyde is an alcohol. It is an aldehyde.

Music: "Po' Boy" and "Splittin'." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.