Kerosene, flammable hydrocarbon liquid commonly used as a fuel. Kerosene is typically pale yellow or colorless and has a    not-unpleasant characteristic odor. It is obtained from petroleum and is used for burning in kerosene lamps and domestic heaters or furnaces, as a fuel or fuel component for jet engines, and as a solvent for greases and insecticides.

Chemically, kerosene is a mixture of hydrocarbons. The chemical composition depends on its source, but it usually consists of about 10 different hydrocarbons, each containing 10 to 16 carbon atoms per molecule. The main constituents are saturated straight-chain and branched-chain paraffins, as well as          ring-shaped cycloparaffins (also known as naphthene). Kerosene is less volatile than gasoline. Its flash point (the temperature at which it will generate a flammable vapor near its surface) is 38 °C or higher, whereas that of gasoline is as low as −40 °C.