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Fun fact: Car engines were originally designed to work with ethanol. That way farmers could make fuel.
Ethanol couldnât be patented though, so they wanted to use gasoline.
Engines knocked with gasoline, so they had to add something to it. That would be ethanol.
Quick
Ethanol couldnât be patented though, so they wanted to use gasoline.
Engines knocked with gasoline, so they had to add something to it. That would be ethanol.
Quick
2/ DuPont hated ethanol though, because since it was easy to produce.
So when an engineer named Thomas Midgley Jr. at General Motors came up with a solution - tetraethyl lead TEL, everyone jumped for joy.
Except TEL was a known poison at the time.
So when an engineer named Thomas Midgley Jr. at General Motors came up with a solution - tetraethyl lead TEL, everyone jumped for joy.
Except TEL was a known poison at the time.
3/ DuPont even said it was âvery poisonous if absorbed through the skinâ in the early 1920s. They went ahead with it anyway.
The first gas station with this fuel opened in February 1923. Midgley Jr., the inventor couldnât attend the opening though.
The first gas station with this fuel opened in February 1923. Midgley Jr., the inventor couldnât attend the opening though.
4/ He would have, but there was one issue. He was dead. Died of TEL exposure from gasoline.
Whoopsie!
They still used it with its fumes causing everything from cancer to birth defects, to lower IQs..
They stopped using the poison in the 70s.
Whoopsie!
They still used it with its fumes causing everything from cancer to birth defects, to lower IQs..
They stopped using the poison in the 70s.
5/ Iâm sure you can guess what they replaced it with to reduce knocking? Ethanol!
Anyway, remember that the next time you see âunleadedâ at the pump.
Anyway, remember that the next time you see âunleadedâ at the pump.
I should say âMost car enginesâ were originally designed for ethanol.
There was other novelty fuels, but it seemed outrageous to design a car that required going in to town to get fuel.
What would happen if you just ran out or something?!
There was other novelty fuels, but it seemed outrageous to design a car that required going in to town to get fuel.
What would happen if you just ran out or something?!
