Whats Inside WD-40?
The recipe for this superlube has long been a closely guarded trade secret—until now. Wired sent a can to the lab and got the ingredients. Mineral Oil Seriously. WD-40 is mostly a mix of baby oil, Vaseline, and the goop inside homemade lava lamps. Decane WD-40 contains an abundance of alkanes—hydrocarbons that match the formula CxH2x+2, usually in a long, zigzagging chain. This one, C10H22, which is also a common ingredient of gasoline, helps WD-40 remain a liquid at cold temperatures. Decane doesn’t freeze until around -21 degrees Fahrenheit. Nonane Another alkane. One reason these molecules are so handy here: Their hydrogen atoms don’t hold a charge, so they can’t connect to the hydrogen or oxygen in water, which makes alkanes water-repellent. WD-40, after all, stands for “water displacement, 40th attempt.
