Thread: Fuel quality
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Old 11-27-2012, 03:53 PM   #4 (permalink)
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well the octane rating is a standard test and by law in most states the gas sold as 87% must have a performance equal to the rating. Octane is a measure of how many Carbon molecules are attached to the H molecule. the C-H bond is what stores the energy in gas. Heptane (7 C's) was assigned a value of 0 and (8 C's) was assigned a value 100. so a gas rated at 87 would perform as if it were 87% Octane and 13% Heptane. it never is actually that mix but is a blend of CH chains in that range.

since the C-H bond stores the power the only thing that can change is the additives but they do not change the amount of raw energy in a volume of gas. it might effect how the gas vaporizes or how clean it burns but the Octane rating insures the same minimum number of C-H bonds are available to be broken and turned into useable energy.
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