"THE CHEMISTRY OF THE MOTOR CAR."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 8444, 11 August 1911, Page 2

"THE CHEMISTRY OF THE MOTOR CAR."

Lecture by Dr. W. P. Evans. Another of the series of popular lectures arranged by the Canterbury College Board of. Governors was given in the College Hall last night, when Dr. W. P., "Evans; Professor of Chemistry at' the College; gave an address on "The Chemistry of the Motor Car." Dr. Evans explained that the motorcar could be regarded both as an installation of power and as a road vehicle.- He intended to draw his' hearers' attention to the motor car merely as a power unit, and to devote his remarks to the heart ,of the car, namely the engine. Dr. Evans showed a snecimon. of crude- Taranaki petroleum, which he said could, like other petroleum, bo separated "info its different parts by fractional distillation, that is by using 'the fact that the parts had different boiling points. This process of fractional .distillation was shown in, actual operation. The lecturer stated that iv each case the whole liquid appeared to be boiling, though in reality it was one of its components that was boiling in each instance, according to the temperature applied. Dr. Evans exhibited a complete set of the separated parts-of petroleum obtained by this process. He explained that from crude petroleum were obtained by these means the different kinds of naphtha, and also the various lubricating oils utilised in the motor car. The lowspecific gravity, the expansive power of petroleum, and the low temperature at i which it gave off vapour, were illustrated, by experiments.. The .lecturer 1 went on to say that petrol was a very mobile liquid, about as mobile as it was possible for a liquid' to bo, and had a knack of finding its way into the smallest crevice. A toy motor car with a leaking petrol tank was drawn along j a ta.ble, and tho trail of petrol was lighted, the flame running along right up to the car. The miniature conflagration was extinguished by having carbonic acid gas poured on it from a glass jar. The lecturer remarked, by the way, that some of tho fire extinguishers now on the market were very •effective from the fact that they contained this gas. Dr. Evans went on to state that the motor car engine was one in which heat energy was transformed into mechanical energy. The action of the carburetter in a motor car was explained at some length, and also ' the means of securing the explosion of the petrol gas and air in the engine.