Don't try this at home, but in another thread I had resolved to get a few gasoline samples to study energy content (weight) per gallon, and how it varies. I recently realized winter gasoline here in north VA (EPA reformulated gaso E10) probably represents the low density extreme (high RVP season), so that meant I needed to get started. Method: All you really need to do is: pump exactly 1-gal into a can based on the gaso pump meter and measure weight and temperature of the fuel sample. I used a red plastic 2.5-gal safety container. I filled the red safety container with 1.0-gal after I first filled my car. I tried to use a hand-held infrared meter for container temp, but had trouble getting exact reading. Got 2786 gram net weight at 40 deg F approx temp. Prelim Result: 0.726 g/cc at 60 deg F (with temp adj) Regular E10 RFG NoVA Wow that sounds like a pretty low density measurement! and low energy content, as I was expecting for winter RFG E10 , Regular grade. I am expecting to see 7-10% higher density (and thus MPG) in summer and outside my EPA RFG region and for Premium. I double checked volume and it seemed to be exactly 1-gal. I tried to utilize proper safety precedures.
[quote="wjtracy, post: 1958242, member: 17892"I tried to use a hand-held infrared meter for container temp, but had trouble getting exact reading.[/quote] I am not surprised. They work mostly only on opaque things within a given range of emissivity. You could let it sit in the can for a while, and measure the temperature of the can.
