Subject: {FIRSTNAME}, Gasoline and Oil

Hello {FIRSTNAME},


I hope you enjoyed the third course on alternative fuel vehicles, next we are going to look at gasoline and oil.

Here is a recap of the e-course schedule:

Part 1: What Are Alternative Fuels
Part 2: Why Are Gas Prices So High
Part 3: Alternative Fuel Vehicles	
Part 4: Gasoline and Oil	
Part 5: Environmental Damage
Part 6: Global Warming
Part 7: Alternative Fuel According to the Numbers

With that being said... Lets get rolling shall we  :)
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Part 4: Gasoline and Oil

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In the United States and the rest of the industrialized world, gasoline is definitely a vital fluid. It is as vital to the economy as blood is to a person. Without gasoline and diesel fuel, the world as we know it would grind to a halt. The U.S. alone consumes about 130 billion gallons of gasoline per year!

This could get a little technical here, but we think it’s important.  Gasoline is known as an aliphatic hydrocarbon. In other words, gasoline is made up of molecules composed of nothing but hydrogen and carbon arranged in chains. Gasoline molecules have from seven to 11 carbons in each chain.

When you burn gasoline under ideal conditions – meaning with plenty of oxygen - you get carbon dioxide from the carbon atoms in gasoline, water from the hydrogen atoms, and lots of heat. A gallon of gasoline contains about 132 x 106 joules of energy, which is equivalent to 125,000 BTU or 36,650 watt-hours.

To illustrate this concept, consider the following:

·If you took a 1,500-watt space heater and left it on full blast for a full 24-hour day, that's about how much heat is in a gallon of gas. 

·If it were possible for human beings to digest gasoline, a gallon would contain about 31,000 food calories -- the energy in a gallon of gasoline is equivalent to the energy in about 110 McDonald’s hamburgers!
 
Now, stick with us through this next part!  It can get a little confusing!

Gasoline is made from crude oil. The crude oil pumped out of the ground is black liquid called petroleum. This liquid contains hydrocarbons, and the carbon atoms in crude oil link together in chains of different lengths.
 
It turns out that hydrocarbon molecules of different lengths have different properties and behaviors. For example, a chain with just one carbon atom in it (CH4) is the lightest chain, known as methane. Methane is a gas so light that it floats like helium. As the chains get longer, they get heavier.
 
The first four chains -- CH4 (methane), C2H6 (ethane), C3H8 (propane) and C4H10 (butane) -- are all gases, and they boil at -161, -88, -46 and -1 degrees F, respectively, The chains up through C18H32 or so are all liquids at room temperature, and the chains above C19 are all solids – such as fats - at room temperature.
 
The different chain lengths have progressively higher boiling points, so they can be separated out by distillation. This is what happens in an oil refinery -- crude oil is heated and the different chains are pulled out by their vaporization temperatures.

The chains in the C5, C6 and C7 range are all very light, easily vaporized, clear liquids called naphthas. They are used as solvents.  Cleaning products can be made from these liquids, as well as paint solvents and other quick-drying products.




For more information about alternative fuel, please refer to my website   <YOUR WEBSITE URL>

Take Care,
Derek Robson
AltPower
http://www.altpower.yolasite.com