Kerosine came first as a high-flash-point (for safety reasons) lamp fuel somewhat comparable to whale oil. Gasoline is very volatile intentionally, but kerosin

Kerosine came first as a high-flash-point (for safety reasons) lamp fuel somewhat comparable to whale oil. Gasoline is very volatile intentionally, but kerosine is supposed to be not-so-easy to ignite. If you ever had to light a kerosine furnace on a cold winter day, you can drop a number of lit matches right into an ounce of it and a few will simply be extinguished before one finally catches fire. Later, Diesel type engines could then then run on it, generally better than they could on the animal and vegetable oils which are similar enough. Then came jet engines and industrial turbines. Benzene and light naphthas are low-flash-point gasoline-range hydrocarbon components not found in measurable amounts in jet fuel. However, other hydrocarbons found in jet fuel could one day be determined to be just as much of a political pollutant as Benzene. It's possible for the same diesel-range tank to pass all modern specifications for kerosine, diesel, and jet, though rarely done. Kerosine still has a lamp burning test, diesel has cetane requirement, turbo has various stability and trace metal specs, not shared with the other usages. No. 1 Diesel is lighter and allows for better acceleration (but use gasoline when you really need to accelerate uphill) so it's great for Mercedes or big pickup owners, No. 2 diesel is the heavier stuff for long haul trucking MPG. YMMV