PrintSeptember 2, 2011
The Hot-Air Car
Those of us of a certain age remember the conspiracy theories that involved geniuses in garages inventing fabulous carburetors that would enable a car to get 100 or 200 miles per gallon -- but then the serpent crept into paradise: Big Oil bought the patents and kept the wonder off the market. A Google on "mythical 100 mpg carburetor" produces over 600,000 hits, including this, a succinct explanation of what kept those wonders off the market: it was not Big Oil, but the First Law of Thermodynamics.
Such rumors swirled for decades. I met a man 30 years ago who swore that his dad and uncle had invented one of those miracles after World War II and sold it to Standard Oil for $50,000, never to hear of it again.
Carburetors are passé now, so those who wish to strike a blow for the green movement, love conspiracies, and love to hate Exxon and BP have moved on to cooler technologies, like hybrids and electrics and hydrogen cars and compressed air vehicles. Tata Motors...(Read Full Article)
