The jojoba plant is a desert - growing shrub . The sperm cell whale is an sea - living mammal . On first glance , it would not seem that they would have much in vulgar . But they do — and that commonness may be the reasons sperm heavyweight did n’t go extinct .
For over a hundred years , much of the worldly concern move on sperm whale oil color . It was usable in great quantity , it was a wonderful fuel , and it was a great industrial lubricator . The only problem with it was , in club to get it , people had to go out onto the ocean and stab a huge , majestic , and increasingly menace brute to demise . It was deplorable , but where else would anyone get oil of the same chemical composition ?
The resolution to that came when researchers remark that a piffling plant in the desert straddling the margin between the United States and Mexico had seeds that secreted a very finicky sort of oil . Unlike the secretions of other flora , jojoba oilcontains no glycerol . Glycerol is the sticky , hydrophilic substance that is the foundation for most plant lipids . Instead of glycerol , jojoba hasfatty alcoholic drink . These alcohols are present in a lot of nautical animals , because they help buoyancy . Plants generally do n’t want to be floaty , and desert plants definitely do n’t need to be perky . Still , test testify that lubricants made from jojoba rock oil mold the same , or well , than those made with whale oil .
It was n’t just the science that made the world turn to jojoba . Jojoba oil hail from jojoba seeds , which are difficult to harvest and are not produced in swell amount . It ’s possible that , without legislative mandates , the great unwashed would have only gotten around to developing jojoba as a imagination after sperm whale went nonextant . The Endangered Species Act made the idea ofinvestingin jojoba plant that produce heavy numbers of seeds a good idea than illegally hunting giant . Now several countries are going special high - yield varieties of jojoba .
Jojoba has a repute for being new old age and hippie - ish . In term of marketing , it is . Chemically , though , it ’s very retro . swob a piddling on the next time you read Moby Dick , and think about how the chemical between your fingers send people out on the sea to remove sea creatures for profit and revenge .
ChemistryScience
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