Article: Racing Fuels

Our Links: Gas Cards CreditCards Gas Price Search MPG Review Car Tire Review Hybrid Review Car Insurance Debt Consolidation
Our Articles: Alternative Fuels Hydrogen Cars Hybrids Electric Cars Regular Vs. Premium?

The octane rating is the most important characteristic of gasoline (petrol) and other fuels used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines. It is a measure of how resistant the fuel is to premature detonation (knocking). It is measured relative to a mixture of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (an isomer of octane) and n-heptane. So an 87-octane gasoline has the same knock resistance as a mixture of 87% isooctane and 13% n-heptane. A complementary standard for diesel fuel is the cetane number.

Higher octane ratings correlate to higher activation energies. Activation energy is the amount of energy necessary to start a chemical reaction- since higher octane fuels have higher activation energies, it is less likely that a given compression ratio will cause knocking.

It might seem odd that fuels with higher octane ratings burn less easily, yet are popularly thought of as more powerful. Using a fuel with a higher octane lets an engine be run at a higher compression ratio without having problems with knock. Compression is directly related to power, so engines that require higher octane usually deliver more power. Some high-performance engines are designed to operate with a compression ratio associated with high octane numbers, and thus demand high-octane gasoline. It should be noted that the power output of an engine also depends on the energy content of its fuel, which bears no simple relationship to the octane rating. Some people believe that adding a higher octane fuel to their engine will increase its performance or lessen its fuel consumption; this is mostly false.engines perform best when using fuel with the octane rating they were designed for and any increase in performance is minimal.

Racing fuel sometimes refers to unleaded gasoline with octane rating of 100 or higher. You can buy racing fuel at the pump in some cities. You absolutely must make sure that your car can handle it or you might damage the car and ruin your warranty. Also, the higher octane fuels cost a lot more, and burn up more quickly. But if your car can handle it, then it is a quick and easy way to add some pep to your car.

ARTICLE DISCLAIMER: To learn more about this and related topics, please visit www.Wikipedia.com. This article was adapted from information in Wikipedia, with permission granted by the GNU license. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. If you publish this article or any work derived from it, then you must also display this GNU License information, and you must grant everyone else the right to republish and edit your work as well. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Octane Rating". Finally, there is no guarantee that the information in this article is accurate; for more information on disclaimers, please see Wikipedia General Disclaimer.

Helpful Links: Gas Cards CreditCards Gas Price Search MPG Review Car Tire Review Hybrid Review Car Insurance Debt Consolidation
Our Articles: Alternative Fuels Hydrogen Cars Hybrids Electric Cars Regular Vs. Premium?

About Us - Suggestions? - Contact Us

Some of our friends: MedicalSearching.com Coffees.com Pain-Medication.com VisionCorrections.com Lasik Thrift.org Quit Smoking

WEBSITE DISCLAIMER:

LegalDisclaimers.org