octane number

noun
1.
(of gasoline) a designation of antiknock quality, numerically equal to the percentage of isooctane by volume in a mixture of isooctane and normal heptane that matches the given gasoline in antiknock characteristics.
Also called octane rating.
Origin
1930-35
Examples from the web for octane number
  • To avoid engine knock, the team's engine runs on ethanol, which has a higher octane number than gasoline.
  • In general, a higher octane number means the engine can run more efficiently and will have less tendency to knock.
  • Naphtha isomerization converts the straight chains to branched, significantly raising their octane number.
  • Such a material would have a high octane number and could be a useful additive to motor gasoline.
  • Dixie also recommended that a fluoride content test be conducted to further validate the octane number results.
  • It is conceptually similar to the octane number used for gasoline.
  • The research method gives slightly higher ratings, and the octane number displayed on the pump is an average of the two methods.
  • The octane number of a fuel governs the amount of spark advance tolerated by a given engine.
British Dictionary definitions for octane number

octane number

noun
1.
a measure of the quality of a petrol expressed as the percentage of isooctane in a mixture of isooctane and n-heptane that gives a fuel with the same antiknock qualities as the given petrol
octane number in Science
octane number  
A numerical representation of the ability of a fuel to resist knocking when ignited in the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine. The octane number of a given fuel is determined by comparing the amount of knocking that fuel causes when combusted with the amount of knocking caused by two standard reference fuels, isooctane (which resists knocking and has an octane number of 100) and heptane (which causes knocking and has an octane number of 0). The octane number is then assigned as the percentage of isooctane required in a blend with normal heptane to match the knocking behavior of the fuel being tested.
Encyclopedia Article for octane number

measure of the ability of a fuel to resist knocking when ignited in a mixture with air in the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine. The octane number is determined by comparing, under standard conditions, the knock intensity of the fuel with that of blends of two reference fuels: iso-octane, which resists knocking, and heptane, which knocks readily. The octane number is the percentage by volume of iso-octane in the iso-octane-heptane mixture that matches the fuel being tested in a standard test engine. See also knocking

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