RE: Snake Oils
Wednesday 8th January 2003
Snake Oils
5% more power? If only...
Discussion
So how would Esso market this...? 
I'm no physicist (as I am about to prove) but 'residual magnetism'? If I take a magnet and put a sheet of steel over it I can hang a nail or similar from the sheet of steel, if I take the magnet away the nail falls off straight away doesn't it?
Not if you leave the magnet on the steel for long enough. Magnets do have an effect in the short to medium term on ferrous metals, giving a small (but measurably) amount of magnetism to the metal the magnet was in contact with...
Slightly off thread but I have been a very satisfied user of the Broquet fuel converter in a number of vehicles over a number of years.
Theoretically it shouldn't work but it has for me and thouands of other motorists.
I am very sceptical about these somt for nowt devices but that one works.
Theoretically it shouldn't work but it has for me and thouands of other motorists.
I am very sceptical about these somt for nowt devices but that one works.
danger mouse said: ...is that the lead replacement thingy?
Thats the one but it also boosts octane ratings and keeps injectors clean. Developed to allow Hawker Hurricanes to run on inferior fuels even the DTi Warren Springs tests say it works.
Bought one for daughter's Metro recently cost about £50.00, much cheaper than an unleaded head.
Hi
I read your article with interest!
I am an Independent Distributor for a company who are now in their 12th year of running a business selling Magnetic products for the car and home as well as magnetic products for humans and animals.
The product for the car has been tested by the DTI with positive results. With tests on petrol and diesel engines for power, fuel consumption and emissions.
The tests showed improved fuel economy, increased power and reduced emissions. The magnetic technology that we use does NOT lose its power. They are guaranteed for a period of 10 years against faulty parts and their magnetic properties guaranteed for LIFE!
Interested? Email me at: magnocare@aol.com
I read your article with interest!
I am an Independent Distributor for a company who are now in their 12th year of running a business selling Magnetic products for the car and home as well as magnetic products for humans and animals.
The product for the car has been tested by the DTI with positive results. With tests on petrol and diesel engines for power, fuel consumption and emissions.
The tests showed improved fuel economy, increased power and reduced emissions. The magnetic technology that we use does NOT lose its power. They are guaranteed for a period of 10 years against faulty parts and their magnetic properties guaranteed for LIFE!
Interested? Email me at: magnocare@aol.com
danger mouse said: ...what would it do to the crx with a splash of optimax for good measure I wonder?
...maybe I should scab some magnets from the Doc's lab as well, and have a tinker.
don't think biffing a pikey's gonna make your CRX shift any better but I've contacted Jemima and might offer myself as a guinea pig (for the betterrment of PH of course)
I am an Independent Distributor for a company who are now in their 12th year of running a business selling Magnetic products for the car and home as well as magnetic products for humans and animals.
To my mind this just shows that there is an steady supply of gullible people. Wonder gadgets like these seem to come round every decade or so, I have read of various impartial scientific tests over the years and none, not a single one, actually achieved what they claimed. This applies to oil friction reducers, fuel catalysts, fuel magnets, turbolators, you name it. Are you really surprised? Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent making modern engines as economical and reliable as possible, down to the last hundredth of a mile per gallon; do you really think that something this cheap and simple that has been around for so many decades would be missed? It is possible that somebody will invent a useful gadget at some point, but in the mean time it's certain that the same old dross will be trotted out again and again to part fools from their money. Nothing personal, but I just get fed up with this rubbish.
Jemima and co ... the onus is on you to prove these things work. I've never found any published research that lent any credibility to these claims. I'd be very interested to read any research you might recommend.
The following is a ramble on surface tension and why static magnetic fields won't change it...
The chances of a magnetic field having any effect on petrol or diesel is vanishingly small because they don't conduct electricity and they don't contain iron.
Surface tension is created by the weak forces that bind the molecules of a liquid to each other. In a liquid each molecule is weakly attracted to all of its neighbours. If the molecule is on the surface of the liquid, it only has neighbours on one side, so the molecule is pulled in that direction. This net pull on surface molecules is what is meant by surface tension.
If you want to weaken surface tension, you have to weaken the forces between the molecules in the liquid. So what are these forces? If a molecule's electrons are not evenly distributed across its surface it is will have some part of its surface that has a slight positive charge with respect to the negatively charged area where the electrons have bunched up. This means that the molecule will tend to line itself up with a static electric field ... note that I said a static electric field, not a static magnetic field. A molecule with an uneven charge distribution as described is said to be "polarised" or "polar".
Broadly speaking, there are two ways a molecule becomes polarised. Its constituent atoms may give it a permanent polarisation. For example, water molecules are very highly polar. Their hydrogen atoms virtually lose their single electrons to the oxygen atom. Consequently water is strongly bound together and has a very high boiling point for such a light, organic molecule and very strong surface tension.
Hydrocarbon molecules don't have a constant polarisation arising from their structure. On average their electrons are evenly distributed along their length. However, if you've got a bunch of electrons flying around a molecule (sort of), by chance they'll temporarily bunch up a bit creating a temporary polarisation until they fly off to another bit of the molecule. This means that a hydrocarbon molecule does have a slight polarisation, but it is weak and its direction moves around pretty randomly over very very short timescales.
Here's the clever bit:-
Take two hydrocarbon molecules and put them next to each other. One of them by chance obtains a temporary weak polarisation as described above. This weak electric field will have an influence on the electrons in the neighbouring molecule and cause them to move a bit. This means that the second molecule has become slightly polarised, and polarised in such a way that it is attracted to the first molecule. And the weak polarisation of the second molecule of course influences the first molecule and tends to reinforce its polarisation. Hey presto, weakly self polarising molecules! The weak forces of attraction that this process produces are known as Van der Waal forces.
So in petrol and diesel the surface tension is produced by the Van der Waal forces between the fuel's molecules. If you want to reduce the surface tension, you need to weaken the Van der Waal forces. If a static magnetic field did this it would be dead easy to test. Take a beaker of oil (diesel, petrol, whatever). Heat it to just below its boiling temperature. Now apply a magnetic field. If the magnetic field weakened the Van der Waal forces, the oil would start to boil. Funnily enough, this experiment doesn't work because, as you'd expect, a static magnetic field has no effect on the processes that give rise to the Van der Waal force.
In any case, it is piss simple to reduce the Van der Waal force and weaken surface tension. All you have to do is raise the oil's temperature. This is why oil gets runnier as it gets hotter. Ever noticed how a puddle of cooking oil spreads out in a frying pan as it gets hot? This is becasue its surface tension is weakening as it heats up.
In conclusion, it would be a miracle if a static magnetic field had any influence on the surface tension of fuel. In any case if it were diserble to reduce the fuels surface tension this can easily be achieved by heating it. Given that no one bothers to do this, it seems it isn't even desirable to make the fuel more runny.
The following is a ramble on surface tension and why static magnetic fields won't change it...
The chances of a magnetic field having any effect on petrol or diesel is vanishingly small because they don't conduct electricity and they don't contain iron.
Surface tension is created by the weak forces that bind the molecules of a liquid to each other. In a liquid each molecule is weakly attracted to all of its neighbours. If the molecule is on the surface of the liquid, it only has neighbours on one side, so the molecule is pulled in that direction. This net pull on surface molecules is what is meant by surface tension.
If you want to weaken surface tension, you have to weaken the forces between the molecules in the liquid. So what are these forces? If a molecule's electrons are not evenly distributed across its surface it is will have some part of its surface that has a slight positive charge with respect to the negatively charged area where the electrons have bunched up. This means that the molecule will tend to line itself up with a static electric field ... note that I said a static electric field, not a static magnetic field. A molecule with an uneven charge distribution as described is said to be "polarised" or "polar".
Broadly speaking, there are two ways a molecule becomes polarised. Its constituent atoms may give it a permanent polarisation. For example, water molecules are very highly polar. Their hydrogen atoms virtually lose their single electrons to the oxygen atom. Consequently water is strongly bound together and has a very high boiling point for such a light, organic molecule and very strong surface tension.
Hydrocarbon molecules don't have a constant polarisation arising from their structure. On average their electrons are evenly distributed along their length. However, if you've got a bunch of electrons flying around a molecule (sort of), by chance they'll temporarily bunch up a bit creating a temporary polarisation until they fly off to another bit of the molecule. This means that a hydrocarbon molecule does have a slight polarisation, but it is weak and its direction moves around pretty randomly over very very short timescales.
Here's the clever bit:-
Take two hydrocarbon molecules and put them next to each other. One of them by chance obtains a temporary weak polarisation as described above. This weak electric field will have an influence on the electrons in the neighbouring molecule and cause them to move a bit. This means that the second molecule has become slightly polarised, and polarised in such a way that it is attracted to the first molecule. And the weak polarisation of the second molecule of course influences the first molecule and tends to reinforce its polarisation. Hey presto, weakly self polarising molecules! The weak forces of attraction that this process produces are known as Van der Waal forces.
So in petrol and diesel the surface tension is produced by the Van der Waal forces between the fuel's molecules. If you want to reduce the surface tension, you need to weaken the Van der Waal forces. If a static magnetic field did this it would be dead easy to test. Take a beaker of oil (diesel, petrol, whatever). Heat it to just below its boiling temperature. Now apply a magnetic field. If the magnetic field weakened the Van der Waal forces, the oil would start to boil. Funnily enough, this experiment doesn't work because, as you'd expect, a static magnetic field has no effect on the processes that give rise to the Van der Waal force.
In any case, it is piss simple to reduce the Van der Waal force and weaken surface tension. All you have to do is raise the oil's temperature. This is why oil gets runnier as it gets hotter. Ever noticed how a puddle of cooking oil spreads out in a frying pan as it gets hot? This is becasue its surface tension is weakening as it heats up.
In conclusion, it would be a miracle if a static magnetic field had any influence on the surface tension of fuel. In any case if it were diserble to reduce the fuels surface tension this can easily be achieved by heating it. Given that no one bothers to do this, it seems it isn't even desirable to make the fuel more runny.
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