Gasoline
Dan Eisenhardt
Background
According to Dictionary.com, gasoline is defined as “a volatile, flammable liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, obtained from petroleum, and used as a fuel for internal-combustion engines, as a solvent, etc.”[1] Gasoline, in its simplest and most common form, is a petroleum distillate used to power internal combustion engines, which are most commonly found in automobiles, motorcycles, boats, and household power equipment such as lawnmowers, snow blowers, or pressure washers.
Because gasoline is a highly volatile mixture, often extreme heat can cause a gasoline mixture to explode, causing preignition, called “detonation”, in internal combustion engines, known as “knocking” or “engine knock”. To combat the volatility of gasoline, gasoline with an increased resistance to preignition is used. This is known as the octane rating of the gasoline. In North America, the rating used is AKI (Anti-Knock Index) while the almost the rest of the world uses RON (Research Octane Number). Regular unleaded gasoline in the United States is approximately 87 AKI octane, which equates to about 92 RON octane.
Petroleum, the crude form of gasoline, was first dug and distilled by Edwin Drake in 1859. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration website, “Edwin Drake dug the first oil well in 1859 and distilled the petroleum to produce kerosene for lighting. Drake had no use for the gasoline or other products, so he discarded them. It wasn’t until 1892 with the invention of the automobile that gasoline was recognized as a valuable fuel. By 1920, there were 9 million vehicles on the road powered by gasoline, and service stations were popping up everywhere.”[2]
Originally, lead was added to gasoline to improve engine performance. Because efficiency technology like forced induction (turbo/supercharging) and fuel injection had not been invented yet, and internal combustion engines were very basic, engineers turned to the type of fuel to improve performance. Tetraethyl lead eliminates preignition, and can significantly boost octane levels so that cheaper, lower-grade fuel can be used in higher-compression, better-performing engines. However, unleaded gasoline was introduced in the 1970s because leaded fuels posed a serious health risk to not only the driver and inhabitants of the vehicle, but to pedestrians as well who were breathing the emissions of the automobile. Leaded fuel was phased out in the 1980s and a total on-road ban was enacted in 1995.
Turning Point
The turning point for gasoline came without a doubt with the introduction of its most famous and common use—with the introduction of the automobile. The automobile was the next huge advancement in the field of transportation since the locomotive, with the airplane coming next. While the automobile has significantly changed the way we transport goods, popular culture, our society, and our manner of living, there are some inherent risks with the use of a finite resource to power a mainstay item in society.
The mechanical deficiency of the internal combustion engine is one of those risks. Modern internal combustion engines, according to a .PDF file called Gasoline and Diesel Engine Efficiency hosted at boostmyfuel.com, “have a maximum thermal efficiency of about 25-30% when used to power a car. In other words, even when the engine is operating at its point of maximum thermal efficiency about 70-75% of fuel is rejected as heat without being turned into useful work, i.e. turning the crankshaft.”[3] The .PDF continues on to say that “Approximately half of this rejected heat is carried away by theexhaust gases (harmful emissions) and half passes through the cylinder walls or cylinder head into the engine cooling system and is passed to the atmosphere via the coolant system radiator.Some of the work generated is also lost as friction, noise, air turbulence, and work used to turn engine equipment and appliances such as water and oil pumps, the electrical generator, A/C and only about 25-30% of the energy released by the fuel consumed is available to move the vehicle.”[4]
The politics of gasoline also are a large risk/problem. When something is as abundant and valuable as gasoline, it will almost always be government regulated. In Politics, Prices, and Petroleum by David Glasner, the foreword by Paul W. MacAvoy says “Despite popular perceptions to the contrary, the painful shortages and price escalations of the 1970s in petroleum and natural gas markets were not the result of market failures. Instead, government restrictions of energy markets were responsible for the gasoline lines, factory shutdowns, and full misallocations of the mid-and-late 1970s…Economist David Glasner sets the record straight. He exposes the lack of evidence supporting those who blame the private sector companies, and he carefully details how the energy policies of government caused the American economy to operate less effectively.”[5]
Effect
While gasoline does have its problems and controversies surrounding it, there is no denying that without it American culture wouldn’t be what it is today: our shipping economy would be almost non-existent, we wouldn’t have won any of the World Wars, pop culture would be harshly different, etc. At this point, scientists are searching for alternative choices to gasoline, because gasoline, while a good fuel source, is both finite and harmful for the environment, and the cost of producing it has become very expensive. Interestingly enough, Mobil1 Co. hassynthesized a petroleum product, their Mobil1 Fully-Synthetic Motor Oil, completely in a lab. If they’ve created one petroleum product artificially, why not another? Well, this is why: According to the previously mentioned book, “Once upon a time, my dog and I were strolling leisurely through the park when we happened upon a certain gentleman seated on a park bench. While imbibing from a bottle of muscatel, he proceeded to inform me (my dog being quite a skeptic in such matters) that the good earth was indeed flat. Ever a faithful employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I produced from my pocket a satellite photo of the earth, showing it to be unmistakably round. I discussed the behavior of the tides, of the winds, of objects on the horizon. I explained patiently that these and a multitude of other observable phenomena are consistent only with a round-earth hypothesis. Needless to say, this gentleman could not be swayed from his conviction that, evidence or no evidence, the earth is flat, period…Let me say now that our ever-vigilant advocates of “energy policy” and its many guises constitute the political equivalent of the Flat Earth Society. Literally no amount of evidence, however sound or extensive, can disabuse such individuals of the notion that a “strong energy policy” can reduce prices, inflation, unemployment, poverty, injustice, instability, vulnerability, and—in all probability—baldness.” [6]
[1] Dictionary.com
[2] “Gasoline Explained, The History of Gasoline.” 2011.
[3] “Gasoline and Diesel Engine Efficiency” n.d.
[4] “Gasoline and Diesel Engine Efficiency” n.d.
[5] Glasner. Politics, Prices, and Petroleum. 1985
[6] Glasner. Politics, Prices, and Petroleum. 1985
Bibliography
“Gasoline and Diesel Engine Efficiency.” boostmyfuel.com n.d.
“Gasoline Explained, The History of Gasoline.” EIA. March 31 2011.
Glasner, David. Politics, Prices, and Petroleum. Pacific Institute for Public Policy Research. United States of America. 1985.
Dan Eisenhardt
Background
According to Dictionary.com, gasoline is defined as “a volatile, flammable liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, obtained from petroleum, and used as a fuel for internal-combustion engines, as a solvent, etc.”[1] Gasoline, in its simplest and most common form, is a petroleum distillate used to power internal combustion engines, which are most commonly found in automobiles, motorcycles, boats, and household power equipment such as lawnmowers, snow blowers, or pressure washers.
Because gasoline is a highly volatile mixture, often extreme heat can cause a gasoline mixture to explode, causing preignition, called “detonation”, in internal combustion engines, known as “knocking” or “engine knock”. To combat the volatility of gasoline, gasoline with an increased resistance to preignition is used. This is known as the octane rating of the gasoline. In North America, the rating used is AKI (Anti-Knock Index) while the almost the rest of the world uses RON (Research Octane Number). Regular unleaded gasoline in the United States is approximately 87 AKI octane, which equates to about 92 RON octane.
Petroleum, the crude form of gasoline, was first dug and distilled by Edwin Drake in 1859. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration website, “Edwin Drake dug the first oil well in 1859 and distilled the petroleum to produce kerosene for lighting. Drake had no use for the gasoline or other products, so he discarded them. It wasn’t until 1892 with the invention of the automobile that gasoline was recognized as a valuable fuel. By 1920, there were 9 million vehicles on the road powered by gasoline, and service stations were popping up everywhere.”[2]
Originally, lead was added to gasoline to improve engine performance. Because efficiency technology like forced induction (turbo/supercharging) and fuel injection had not been invented yet, and internal combustion engines were very basic, engineers turned to the type of fuel to improve performance. Tetraethyl lead eliminates preignition, and can significantly boost octane levels so that cheaper, lower-grade fuel can be used in higher-compression, better-performing engines. However, unleaded gasoline was introduced in the 1970s because leaded fuels posed a serious health risk to not only the driver and inhabitants of the vehicle, but to pedestrians as well who were breathing the emissions of the automobile. Leaded fuel was phased out in the 1980s and a total on-road ban was enacted in 1995.
Turning Point
The turning point for gasoline came without a doubt with the introduction of its most famous and common use—with the introduction of the automobile. The automobile was the next huge advancement in the field of transportation since the locomotive, with the airplane coming next. While the automobile has significantly changed the way we transport goods, popular culture, our society, and our manner of living, there are some inherent risks with the use of a finite resource to power a mainstay item in society.
The mechanical deficiency of the internal combustion engine is one of those risks. Modern internal combustion engines, according to a .PDF file called Gasoline and Diesel Engine Efficiency hosted at boostmyfuel.com, “have a maximum thermal efficiency of about 25-30% when used to power a car. In other words, even when the engine is operating at its point of maximum thermal efficiency about 70-75% of fuel is rejected as heat without being turned into useful work, i.e. turning the crankshaft.”[3] The .PDF continues on to say that “Approximately half of this rejected heat is carried away by theexhaust gases (harmful emissions) and half passes through the cylinder walls or cylinder head into the engine cooling system and is passed to the atmosphere via the coolant system radiator.Some of the work generated is also lost as friction, noise, air turbulence, and work used to turn engine equipment and appliances such as water and oil pumps, the electrical generator, A/C and only about 25-30% of the energy released by the fuel consumed is available to move the vehicle.”[4]
The politics of gasoline also are a large risk/problem. When something is as abundant and valuable as gasoline, it will almost always be government regulated. In Politics, Prices, and Petroleum by David Glasner, the foreword by Paul W. MacAvoy says “Despite popular perceptions to the contrary, the painful shortages and price escalations of the 1970s in petroleum and natural gas markets were not the result of market failures. Instead, government restrictions of energy markets were responsible for the gasoline lines, factory shutdowns, and full misallocations of the mid-and-late 1970s…Economist David Glasner sets the record straight. He exposes the lack of evidence supporting those who blame the private sector companies, and he carefully details how the energy policies of government caused the American economy to operate less effectively.”[5]
Effect
While gasoline does have its problems and controversies surrounding it, there is no denying that without it American culture wouldn’t be what it is today: our shipping economy would be almost non-existent, we wouldn’t have won any of the World Wars, pop culture would be harshly different, etc. At this point, scientists are searching for alternative choices to gasoline, because gasoline, while a good fuel source, is both finite and harmful for the environment, and the cost of producing it has become very expensive. Interestingly enough, Mobil1 Co. hassynthesized a petroleum product, their Mobil1 Fully-Synthetic Motor Oil, completely in a lab. If they’ve created one petroleum product artificially, why not another? Well, this is why: According to the previously mentioned book, “Once upon a time, my dog and I were strolling leisurely through the park when we happened upon a certain gentleman seated on a park bench. While imbibing from a bottle of muscatel, he proceeded to inform me (my dog being quite a skeptic in such matters) that the good earth was indeed flat. Ever a faithful employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I produced from my pocket a satellite photo of the earth, showing it to be unmistakably round. I discussed the behavior of the tides, of the winds, of objects on the horizon. I explained patiently that these and a multitude of other observable phenomena are consistent only with a round-earth hypothesis. Needless to say, this gentleman could not be swayed from his conviction that, evidence or no evidence, the earth is flat, period…Let me say now that our ever-vigilant advocates of “energy policy” and its many guises constitute the political equivalent of the Flat Earth Society. Literally no amount of evidence, however sound or extensive, can disabuse such individuals of the notion that a “strong energy policy” can reduce prices, inflation, unemployment, poverty, injustice, instability, vulnerability, and—in all probability—baldness.” [6]
[1] Dictionary.com
[2] “Gasoline Explained, The History of Gasoline.” 2011.
[3] “Gasoline and Diesel Engine Efficiency” n.d.
[4] “Gasoline and Diesel Engine Efficiency” n.d.
[5] Glasner. Politics, Prices, and Petroleum. 1985
[6] Glasner. Politics, Prices, and Petroleum. 1985
Bibliography
“Gasoline and Diesel Engine Efficiency.” boostmyfuel.com n.d.
“Gasoline Explained, The History of Gasoline.” EIA. March 31 2011.
Glasner, David. Politics, Prices, and Petroleum. Pacific Institute for Public Policy Research. United States of America. 1985.