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Old 03-06-2007, 04:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Quicksilver
In my mind the best answer to me is pass it around. (Perhaps a repost on X5 world would be a good start). Since it was your post that got this started you may pass it along if you wish.

My guess is that the simple paragraph you see below which is in the box in the article very few people know about. Perhaps it should be explained so that enough people know about it and it will become common knowledge. Other than that i wouldn't expect the suits to take any action against the golden goose. After all they can afford the gas.

Rules of physics cost us money
Few Americans realize that fuel is often sold at temperatures higher than the government standard of 60 degrees. It's a standard agreed to nearly a century ago by the industry and regulators. Collectively, it's costing us billions of dollars a year, according to an investigation by The Kansas City Star.

It works this way:
As a liquid, gasoline expands and contracts depending on temperature. At the 60-degree standard, the 231-cubic-inch American gallon puts out a certain amount of energy. But that same amount of gas expands to more than 235 cubic inches at 90 degrees, even though consumers still only get 231 cubic inches at the pump.

Put simply, every degree over the 60-degree standard diminishes the energy a 231-cubic-inch gallon delivers to the nation's fleet of vehicles — and forces drivers to use more fuel and pay more.

Basic physics rules mean that, depending on the temperature, the difference can amount to just a few cents per gallon. But it adds up to big money — coming straight out of consumers' pockets. Moreover, it's legal, because even though your local filling station measures your gas as if it were stored at 60 degrees, no law requires retailers to adjust the pump to reflect the expansion of hot fuel.

In Hawaii, a gallon of fuel contains nearly 234 cubic inches — about 3 cubic inches more than is dispensed in the rest of the United States. No other state adjusts for temperature fluctuations when dispensing fuel.
McClatchy-Tribune
There's more to it that that. Underground gasoline tanks have a fairly stable temperature. If you are filling up a full tank the bulk of the gasoline will be at the underground temperature regardless of the surface temperature. Therefore, the density of the metered gasoline is fairly constant. What could affect the density more is whether that or not the gas station just filled up from the tanker.
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