Going to the pump is such a one-dimensional experience. It’s not like walking up to a soda fountain where you get to pick from a variety of flavors, you’re pretty much going to get the same thing every time. Because of this, I started to wonder just what separates regular gasoline from diesel. What’s the difference? And why can’t we put diesel in our tanks if we really wanted to?
Now I’m just talking crazy.
Diesel and regular gasoline both come from crude oil, but they’re refined differently. Gasoline is a lighter, more flammable type of fuel, while diesel is thicker, requiring more heat for combustion.
Because of diesel’s thickness, it’s actually more fuel efficient than regular gasoline. So why aren’t we creating diesel engines and using diesel fuel more often as a society?
The main problem is that diesel engines cost more to build than regular ones. This is because diesel engines need to compress air to a high pressure and temperature, which is more difficult to create.
Despite these setbacks, diesel actually burns much cleaner than regular gasoline in terms of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions. Though we may think of diesel as a dirtier type of fuel, advances in refining have improved the cleanliness of diesel in the past few years.