Is it possible to “annoy” a neighbor by pouring sugar into the gas tank of his car
Probably, everyone in childhood heard stories about how local yard avengers disabled the car of a hated neighbor for a long time by pouring sugar into his fuel tank. Such a tale was widely circulated, but what is interesting is that none of the narrators personally ever participated in such an operation. So, maybe it's all - chatter?
Among the hooligan "jokes" involving cars, two were especially famous in the good old days. The first was to stuff a raw potato or beetroot down the exhaust pipe - supposedly, the engine would then not start. The second was much more cruel: pour sugar into the gas tank through the filler neck. The sweet product will dissolve in the liquid and turn into a viscous residue that sticks together the moving parts of the engine or forms carbon deposits on the cylinder walls during combustion.
Does such an evil prank have a chance of success?
Yes, if sugar gets to the fuel injectors or engine cylinders, it will be very unpleasant for both the car and yourself, since it will cause a lot of unplanned trouble. However, why exactly sugar? Any other small particles, such as fine sand, would cause a similar effect, and the special chemical or physical properties of sugar do not play any role here. But guarding the purity of the mixture that is injected into the cylinders, there is a fuel filter - and not one.
Ah! So that's why sugar! He will dissolve and seep through all the barriers and obstacles, right? Again a deuce. Firstly, modern cars have a filler valve, which will prevent anyone from pouring any muck into the tank of your car. Secondly, sugar does not dissolve in gasoline ... What a bummer. This fact, no matter how its yard defenders of "sweet revenge" refuted, has been proved theoretically and even experimentally.
In 1994, forensic science professor John Thornton of the University of California at Berkeley mixed gasoline with sugar tagged with radioactive carbon atoms. He used a centrifuge to separate the undissolved residue and measured the radioactivity level of gasoline to calculate the amount of sugar dissolved in it. This turned out to be less than one teaspoon per 57 liters of fuel - about the average amount included in the gas tank of a car. Naturally, if your tank is not completely filled, then even less sugar will dissolve in it. This amount of a foreign product is clearly not enough to cause serious problems in the fuel system or engine, much less kill it.
By the way, exhaust gas pressure easily knocks a potato out of the exhaust system of a car that is in good technical condition. And on older machines with low compression, the gases find their way around through the holes and slots of the resonator and muffler.
