Please note: this article is incomplete and in development.
There are probably more arguments surrounding nitro fuel and its use than how the Great San Francisco fire actually started. Whatever your choice, there's no doubt that the fuel mixture you use is the one thing that can make the greatest change in performance in your nitro engine.
R/C nitro fuel is not actually a nitro-based fuel at all. It is actually an alcohol-based fuel. 50% - 80% of our nitro fuel, depending on the percentages of the other ingredients, is wood alcohol (methanol) with 12% to 18% synthetic or castor oils, and anywhere from 5% to 40% is a nitromethane additive. The reason it is called nitro fuel, in this author's opinion, is largely in the interest of marketing. Nitro fuel just sounds more powerful than alcohol fuel, does it not? And when we think of nitro, we think of nitro glycerine, and explosions, which means POWER.
Nitromethane's chemical makeup has several oxygen molecules bonded to it. When the fuel mix is atomized in the combustion chamber, this oxygen is released, providing more oxygen molecules in the given volume than would be possible by normal atmospheric means. This allows us to run proportionately more fuel, hence squeeze more power out of the engine than would be possible without the nitromethane additive.
. . . to be continued . . .
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