Gasoline How it effects our lives Life Blood

Gasoline How it effects our lives

Life Blood of America • Without gasoline and diesel fuel, the world as we know it would grind to a halt • The U. S. alone consumes something like 130 billion gallons a year

What is gasoline? • gasoline is made up of molecules composed of nothing but hydrogen and carbon arranged in chains

Chains of Carbon

How much energy is in Gasoline • A gallon of gasoline contains about 132 x 106 joules of energy, which is equivalent to 125, 000 BTU or 36, 650 watt hours • If it were possible for human beings to digest gasoline, a gallon would contain about 31, 000 food calories the energy in a gallon of gasoline is equivalent to the energy in about 110 Mc. Donalds hamburgers!

Where does it come from? • Gasoline is made fromcrude oil and is composed of hydrocarbons • hydrocarbon molecules of different lengths have different properties and behaviors • The chains from C 7 H 16 through C 11 H 24 are blended together and used for gasoline • Diesel fuel falls in the range of C 12 through C 15

What is octane? • The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. • Compression ratio determines what octane level is suitable for an engine

Gasoline Additives • Dur ing WWI, it was discovered that you can add a chemical called tetraethyl lead to gasoline and significantly improve its octane rating • Another common additive is MTBE or a simple methane molecule • The most likely thing to replace MTBE in gasoline is ethanol normal alcohol. It is somewhat more expensive than MTBE, but it is not a cancer threat.

Problems With Gasoline • Smog and ozone in big cities • carbon and greenhouse gases

Fuel Efficiency • http: //ririanproject. com/2007/10/07/22 ways to make your car more fuel efficient/