Gasoline Create Different Fuels

Gasoline is a product that is made of of carbon atoms joined together into carbon chains. The different lengths of the chains create different fuels. These chains have different characteristics that make them behave differently in several circumstances. The characteristics like the boiling point or the ignition temperature. A motor’s cylinder heats up when the fuel is compressed into it. If the fuel reaches its ignition temperature during compression, it will then auto-ignite at the wrong time. This will then cause loss of power and damage to the engine. There as fuels such as heptane that can ignite under very little compression, however, octane tends to handle compression extremely well. The higher the compression a car’s motor can produce in the cylinders, the greater the power it can get out of each stroke of the piston. This makes it necessary to have fuels the can handle higher compression without auto-igniting. the higher the octane rating, the more compression the fuel can handle. …show more content…
merged with General Motors to solve two main problems: the need for high compression engines and the insufficient supply of fuel. In 1921 chemist Charles F. Kettering assisted by Thomas Midgley added Tetraethyl lead to fuel the engine. The problem of knock, caused by auto-ignition of fuel being compresses past the ignition temperature, was completely silenced. Over time other manufacturers found out that by adding lead to fuel they could improve the octane rating of the gas. This then allowed them to produce much cheaper fuel but still maintain the needed crane ratings that a car’s engine needs. Another benefit that became known after some time was that Tetraethyl lead lubricated the valve seats which kept them from wearing down. Modern engines have special hardened valve seats but at the time lead could cause damage to