Gasoline

Gasoline is an organic compound found in nature that is used to fuel gasoline engines. It is called petrol in Great Britain, or by other names such as benzene in other languages. Throughout the 20th century, the exploration and development of the global oil industry was a quest for oil that was used for refining into gasoline. Prior to about 1900, the primary product made from refined oil was kerosene. It was soon discovered that gasoline was a lower temperature distillate than kerosene—it required less refracting to be extracted. The invention and application of the gasoline engine to automobiles, boats, airplanes, and other machines stimulated the refining of gasoline. Henry Ford's development of the Model T and the assembly line to build them in vast numbers at affordable prices for working-class people provided inexpensive transportation for millions. Demand for gasoline quickly exceeded kerosene demand, creating a global quest for oil and a vast system of gasoline supplies to individual automobile driver purchases.

Internal combustion gasoline engines are a type of heat engine. They use energy at high temperature to do work. Much of the heat is then dumped so that the engine can continue to work. The gasoline engine uses the Otto cycle, which is named after Nikolaus Otto, to mix gasoline vapor and air in a cylinder-shaped chamber. The vapor and air mixture is compressed. A piston uses an adiabatic compression stroke to squeeze the air and gasoline into an explosive condition. However, if the gasoline is of good quality, an explosion will not occur spontaneously. Instead, a spark plug will be used to ignite the compressed mixture. The explosion inside of the cylindrical chamber will create a very hot pressurized gas that will push the piston out in a stroke that will turn a crankshaft to accomplish work. The octane rating measures the resistance of the gasoline to premature ignition.

Gasoline is used in great quantities. Individual cars use tons every year. The exploded mixture of air and gasoline is expelled from the automobile in the form of gas. Much of the waste gas is carbon dioxide. However, there are many other compounds in the exhaust fumes. These tons of gasoline fumes pollute the atmosphere and the in various atmospheric conditions create smog. There are many health problems caused by these fumes, including a great increase in asthma. Chemically, gasoline is C8H14 plus other radicals that can or may be attached. It can be manufactured from anything containing carbon and hydrogen. These forms of gasoline are synthetic. It is also possible to obtain it from oil-bearing shale deposits and tar sands. Gasoline is found with the natural gas that accompanies petroleum. Natural gasoline is usually called casinghead gasoline, and is mixed with the enormous quantities of gasoline manufactured in oil refineries. Gasoline, depending upon the quality of the crude oil being refined, and many other products will come from the refracting process. These include gases, kerosene, diesel fuel, and a variety of oils, waxes, and tars. In addition, contaminants such as sulfur and metals may also be produced.

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