Car Engine Design 09 25 2026

I wonder if a gasoline car engine could be designed that does not have to operate at such high temperatures?

The energy that goes into cooling the engine could be used for mpg.

How could one such engine be designed?

And really I am talking about something that has neither air cooling or water cooling.  It just doesn't need to be cooled at all.

And what I am describing, could it compete with electric cars in terms of efficiency?

Perhaps oversided pistons and flywheels?  Perhaps only firing every so often?

And I am not talking about a steam engine either.

Something that glides down the road.

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And here is a different idea altogether.  What if road signaling was designed so that the cars that are moving don't have to stop?  I mean in todays day and age of electronic controls of operations...

Would that not be pedestrian friendly? 

And do you trust someone who doesn't know to wait to cross the street?  (I know what the laws are and I happily obey them.)  I am just arguing here.  It is like, if you don't know when to cross the street why are you crossing the street?  If you don't know when to cross the street should you be allowed to cross the street at all?

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So this is going to get interesting.  We have a younger generation that butts out into the street to cross.  They have no fear.  What happens when they become drivers?  Is there going to be like a spoiled carryoever?  Whereby they are more prone to bust through red stop signs without coming to a complete stop?

Did you ever notice the person that busts through red stops signs without coming to a complete stop is also likely to be a low class individual who litters?

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And so indeed.  How many drops of gasoline are there in a gallon of gasoline? 

Holy Smoke!  Look at the Google results!  "There are approximately 75,708 to 90,840 drops of gasoline in a U.S. gallon, depending on the size of the drop. [1]"

That freaking many!

So if you get 20 miles per gallon of gasoline how many drops of gasoline is that per mile?  That is easy right.  We will take the midpoint.  (75,708+90,840)/2=83,274.  So 83,274/20=4,163.7 drops of gasoline per mile.

Since there are 5,280 feet in a mile that means how many drops per foot?

.788 drops of gasoline for every foot of distance your car travels.

"Oh, what I envision could be much much greater than that!  I think that we can get that figure to 1 drop of gasoline to 12 feet of distance very easily."  Sayeth the scientist character from a science fiction story?

© 2026 Thomas Paul Murphy