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Unleaded
The very terms "leaded" and "unleaded" are misleading. They give the impression that "leaded" petrol is contaminated with something nasty, namely lead, while "unleaded" is somehow pristine, pure. Whilst it is true that "leaded" petrol contains lead, and lead is not a nice substance to have spewing out of the exhaust pipes of millions of cars, the truth is that unleaded petrol has even nastier properties. Let's start at the beginning.
When internal combustion engines were first developed for the automobile, they ran on a substance known as "motor spirit". By today's standards, motor spirit was an exceptionally "clean" fuel; properly burnt in an efficient engine, the main exhaust products were water vapour, carbon dioxide and some trace carbonic elements and particles. There were two main problems with motor spirit. First and foremost, it was a highly refined product which cost the oil companies far more to produce than what they wanted to spend, or what they thought they could charge if the automobile was really to take off in a big way. Secondly, the original combustion engines ran at very low compression ratios compared to today. As the vehicle manufacturers strove to produce ever faster, more powerful engines, they gradually raised the compression ratios, as this is one of the easiest ways of gaining more power from any given-sized power plant.
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