A variety of Carbon Black, or black pigment used in printing ink produced by the "cracking" of natural gas. Natural gas is essentially a complex mixture of hydrocarbon compounds. Cracking, or the exposure of these hydrocarbons to high temperatures and pressures, weakens and decomposes the carbon-to-carbon bonds in the molecules, and as various substances are boiled off, other residual substances are left behind. The partial burning of these hydrocarbons and the condensation of the flame on a cool surface produces Carbon Black. (Carbon Black obtained from the cracking of petroleuim oil is typically referred to as furnace black.) See Carbon Blacks.
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