[Public-list] Ethanol detrimental to plastic fuel tanks

[George Dinwiddie]

A couple of minor points:

J Bergquist wrote:
> Ethanol is an alcohol just like ethylene glycol (antifreeze), or drinking
> alcohol

Actually, it's the *exact same* alcohol as drinking alcohol.  The 
gasoline, of course, denatures it and makes it poisonous.  (My father 
was a chemist, and I learned about ethanol at an early age. ;-)

> Ethanol is somewhere between gasoline and water in terms
> of polarity, which means that in practice it will dissolve in both, but I
> think (and I could be mistaken on this), that it is actually MORE soluble in
> water than in gasoline, which is why it may separate.

It's the OH group on the hydrocarbon chain that bonds with the water. 
The organic chain, itself, is pretty short (2 carbons long), so that 
puts the gasoline a bit close to the water for its comfort.

An interesting factoid is that if you take a quart of ethanol and a 
quart of water and pour them together, the resulting solution is less 
than two quarts.  In the water/ethanol combination, the atoms pack more 
tightly than in either pure solution.

This may be a reason to drink your scotch neat, with a water chaser. 
(Actually, whiskey already has plenty of water.  100 proof means 50% 
water and 50% alcohol.  Gives it a nice bead when you shake the mason jar.)

These are all important facts of chemistry.  You never know when they'll 
come in handy...like when you want to be left alone at a cocktail party.

> I don't know what is going on but I know there
> are some pumps in Annapolis that sell E85, which is 85% ETHANOL!!!!

Magothy Marina is now selling E10.

  More than you wanted to know,
    George

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