Originally Posted by cyccommute

Your ranges are wrong. White gas is C5 to C9. Mineral spirits (white spirits) is C7 to C12. Kerosene is C6 to C16. Those extra carbons have a huge impact on the volatility of the liquid. Just one carbon can raise the boiling point by a lot. For example, going from heptane (C7) to octane (C8) causes the boiling point to rise from 98C to 126C. Going from a C12 to C16 increases the boiling point by 71C.

I would also disagree about whether any of these mixtures are centered around a particular carbon molecule. They are all distillation ranges and the composition would depend on the amount of a particular molecule in the petroleum from which it is being distilled. Some crude oils have more low end carbon molecules and some have higher. Without information on the particular oil being distilled, it would be impossible to predict were the range is centered.