Why are mothballs better than sugar in someone's gas tank?
Michael Moroney
> No one in alt.revenge knew anything about mothballs, and I thought
> someone here might be able to explain to me how mothballs(What are they
> made of?) and gasoline react. I just heard they were good to gum up
> someone's carburetor. I'll try to find other appropriate newsgroups to
> ask. Thanks in advance.
Actually, moth balls in the gas tank is an old (50s) hot rodder's trick to
boost octane, so they could use pump gas in their modified engines. This would
be the naphthalene moth balls. The other common type is paradichlorobenzene.
-Mike
Bruce Hamilton
>No one in alt.revenge knew anything about mothballs, and I thought
>someone here might be able to explain to me how mothballs(What are they
>made of?) and gasoline react. I just heard they were good to gum up
>someone's carburetor. I'll try to find other appropriate newsgroups to
>ask. Thanks in advance.
Try the Gasoline FAQ in rec.autos.tech :-)
[ begin extract ]
6.20 Can mothballs increase octane?
The legend of mothballs as an octane enhancer arose well before WWII when
naphthalene was used as the active ingredient. Today, the majority of
mothballs use para-dichlorobenzene in place of naphthalene, so choose
carefully if you wish to experiment :-). There have been some concerns about
the toxicity of para-dichlorobenzene, and naphthalene mothballs have again
become popular. In the 1920s, typical gasoline octane ratings were 40-60
[11], and during the 1930s and 40s, the ratings increased by approximately 20
units as alkyl leads and improved refining processes became widespread [12].
Naphthalene has a blending motor octane number of 90 [52], so the addition of
a significant amount of mothballs could increase the octane, and they were
soluble in gasoline. The amount usually required to appreciably increase the
octane also had some adverse effects. The most obvious was due to the high
melting point ( 80C ), when the fuel evaporated the naphthalene would
precipitate out, blocking jets and filters. With modern gasolines,
naphthalene is more likely to reduce the octane rating, and the amount
required for low octane fuels will also create operational and emissions
problems.
[ end extract ]
Now there has been a lot of discussion in sci.chem on the solubility
of sugar in gasoline, however it is certainly very much lower than naphthalene
and even p-dichlorobenzene ( if you get the wrong ones :-) ), and so
much less material will be carried to the carburettor or injector. They
will all cause deposits if added in sufficient quantity, however the much
higher solubility of mothballs is also likely to cause deposits due to
volatilisation of other components, whereas sugar tends to grab the
water from the gasoline and form a matt on fuel filters, thus blocking
fuel flow, rather than dissolving into the fuel and forming deposits,
which will happen more slowly than for mothballs. Remember all new
US cars are injected, and both of these will defeat the purpose of the
deposit control additives added to gasolines, resulting in operational
problems - and the rate will depend on the relative solubilities, the
amount of water, temperature, and agitation - in general the amount
of suger needed to cause problems is much less than the amount of
motrhballs - but both will.
Bruce Hamilton
Jaeger
someone here might be able to explain to me how mothballs(What are they
made of?) and gasoline react. I just heard they were good to gum up
someone's carburetor. I'll try to find other appropriate newsgroups to
ask. Thanks in advance.
PS
I don't need smart asses or oppinions, just facts.
mikea
its a derivative from petroleum fractions after several catalytic
processes. It can also act as acutting fluid and lubricant. Now,
as far as sugar is concerned, I may be wrong, but in contact with
fuel it will emulsify.
There you go. I don't know much about cars, but I wouldn't go
around putting mothballs in my gas tank.
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