Word: hydrocarbons
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...head. These out-of-rhythm explosions can ruin a motor, perhaps break its crankshaft. High octane materials-octane, lead, alkylates-prevent these premature explosions by slowing down the rate of explosion. Though all gasoline explosions are a matter of split seconds, some are "slow," others "fast." Each kind of hydrocarbon in gasoline ignites at a slightly different temperature and compression. Igniting slowly and in order, they give the piston a firm, continued push instead of a brief, wrenching, power-wasting punch. So high octane gas can give more power to airplane engines-if they are designed to harness...
...World War I's 55 octane gas to World War II's 100 octane plus came slowly. Octane rating is the index of antiknock qualities.* Before 1922 the only way to raise this rating was to increase the percentage of isooctane (and similar compounds). Isooctane is a hydrocarbon, C8H18, which is one of the hundreds of compounds which make up the chemical mixture called gasoline. But isooctane alone makes a poor fuel because it is not volatile enough, does not readily carburet into explodible vapor...
...Houston refinery; a new $10,760,000 toluol plant was also under construction at Baytown, Tex. by Humble Oil. Another defense-born baby of the oil industry was synthetic rubber: Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana had a $1,000,000 buna plant under construction at Baton Rouge, and Hydrocarbon Chemical & Rubber Co. will complete a butadiene plant at Borger, Tex. next month...
...British chemist named Greville Williams broke down natural rubber by distillation, obtained a hydrocarbon compound called isoprene. In 1882 William Tilden, also of Britain, made isoprene by .racking turpentine vapor in a red-hot tube...
...bean oil for paints, varnishes and soft soap, soy beans are crushed into flakes, treated with hydrocarbon solvent such as hexane or benzene. The oil and the solvent are filtered off. The solvent is recovered from the oil by distillation; from the mash by steaming under pressure. Last week's jury of scientists looked along this line of operations for vulnerable spots. They found that two 4,000-gal. tanks of hexane had not exploded. Neither had the two 50,000-gal. oil storage tanks, nor the stills, nor the pressure apparatus. The blast, in fact, seemed to have...