It's believed by many that a good way to vandalize a car is to pour sugar (sucrose) in its gas tank. the sugar is believed to dissolve in the gasoline, enter the gas lines and then "caramelize" into a gunky texture when combusted. if you wanted to test this theory casually, without jeopardizing anyone's car, which of the solvents used in the experiment would be the best to use?

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Chemistry

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22 November, 20:55

It's believed by many that a good way to vandalize a car is to pour sugar (sucrose) in its gas tank. the sugar is believed to dissolve in the gasoline, enter the gas lines and then "caramelize" into a gunky texture when combusted. if you wanted to test this theory casually, without jeopardizing anyone's car, which of the solvents used in the experiment would be the best to use?

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Quinn Waller · Answer 1

Answer is: in this experiment it is best to use some liquid alkanes (for example hexane), because gasoline consists of hydrocarbons with between four and twenty carbon atoms. Gasoline is a mixture of many different hydrocarbons: alkanes (paraffins), cycloalkanes and alkenes (olefins).