John Miller wrote in message ...
Mark (UK) wrote:

I think it is a lubricant, but maybe not an electrical one.....

It certainly lubricates parts on my car :-)

While it might technically have lubricant properties, it's not a very good
lubricant, having been formulated as a water dispersant. In particular, it
doesn't have much film strength.

It is a pretty good solvent for lots of things, though, and can sometimes be
used to "rejuvinate" dried up lubricants (which is by no means a substitute
for proper cleaning and re-lubing).

There is an interesting history of WD40 on the web at:

http://www.wd40.com/AboutUs/our_history.html

I had used it for a long time to loosen rusted nuts & bolts. One day
I washed my car engine off at the car wash and got water in the
distributor cap and was trying to dry it out with a paper towel and
some man came over with a can of WD40 and sprayed some in the cap and
the engine started immediately. I later saw a program on TV telling
of the development of WD40 as a water displacement solution.

Van Gardner