Gasoline is a refined form of crude oil, which most people know, but there are a lot of aspects of gasoline that most people are blissfully unaware of. There are some really interesting facts about gasoline that most people don’t have any idea of. In fact, some of the myths about gasoline are actually completely inaccurate, but the truths can be just as fascinating, if not more so. Here are some unusual things that you can learn, that you can then stump your friends with, at your next trivia night.

Things You Should Know About Gasoline

A lot of people think crude oil comes from fossilized dinosaurs. This is completely inaccurate. One of the biggest sources of crude oil is actually from pond scum. The oil that bubbled up from beneath the surface of the earth was later eaten by the bacteria that formed pond scum. In order to get the oil out of it, the pond scum must be pressure cooked. Bet you never look at your mother’s pressure cooker the same.

Evening is the best time of the day to buy gasoline. It’s true! Gas pumps measure how much a gallon is by volume, and since gasoline becomes a bit denser as it cools, you will actually get a bit more gas if you head to the pump during the nighttime hours.

When Americans first found crude oil, they didn’t know what it was for, so they industriously bottled it and sold it to the unsuspecting public as a health tonic. Yum! If your gas cap is old and loose, you can lose as much as a whopping 30 gallons of gas a year simply from the vapors that escape the cap. That’s a lot of gas to just let go of.

Having your windows open when you are driving at a high speed can cause so much drag, you can lose as much as 10% of your vehicle’s total fuel economy. Next time, stop waving your hand in the breeze and kick on the vents. Gasoline is not an easy recipe to put together. Depending on which brand you buy, you are buying anywhere between 150 and 1,000 different ingredients mixed in with your gas.

There are enough pipelines for fuel within the United States to make it halfway to the moon.
Now that your mind has been filled with useful, interesting, and confusing facts about gasoline, go stump your friends and see which facts they get right!