On Sun, 2014-02-23 at 11:48 +0530, gabin kattukaran wrote: > Consider the cross sectional area of the column to be the > minimum amount of fuel that the vehicle consumes to move an > infinitesimal distance. To do this, the vehicle consumes a > sliver/wafer of fuel. In reality, this area would probably be the > smallest amount of fuel that is injected into a cylinder of the engine > (assuming a regular internal combustion type engine.) > Perfectly clear so far, but in my mind it gets complicated.
"Fuel" is a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules. Assume octane for simplicity. The smallest (shortest) "column" with the widest possible area would be a single molecule thick area of fuel that the hypothetical car is scooping up as it travels 100 km. The area of fuel that is scooped up per stroke of each cylinder is exactly equal to the area occupied by a one molecule thick layer needed to fire one stroke in that cylinder. So does this real world area represent the area occupied by a one molecule thick layer of fuel needed to make the car travel some unit distance? As far as I can figure out it does. shiv >
