🚀 go-pugleaf

>We acquired a leaflet about this at the local shopping centre (Cameron
>Toll), stuck under the windscreen wiper.

I guess the page charges for Physical Review are too much for these
misunderstood geniuses whose renegade ideas are too revolutionary
to make them employable at universities and laboratories.

>It claims to be "..a highly effective , easy to install fuel saving
>device, created through the technology of Magneto Hydro Dynamics (MHD).
>It will enhance your engine's performance and reduce exhaust emissions."
> 
>Allegedly it works by aligning hydrocarbon molecules in a concentrated
>magnetic field.  (What is the magnetic moment of petrol (gas) anyway?). 
>This alignment creates a more effective fuel/air mixture. 
> 
>Apparently it can increase efficiency by 15 to 20 %. (There must be a
>massive conspiracy by fuel processors and sellers to keep this
>information from us:-)  Just think how much money could be saved if you
>got an extra tank of petrol for every six you bought :-). )
> 
>Seriously, anyone care to tear this to shreds, in words that a literate
>non scientist can understand?

I'm not sure I can stop laughing long enough to recall the details
of what I posted to rec.autos the last time a similar device came up.

That one did not invoke MHD; instead, it claimed to make the 
molecules, presumably of gasolinium, "heat-seeking," which I suppose
implies that they were getting their snake oil from pit vipers. It's
a variation on the general theme of "cow magnets."  Remember those,
from the depths of the second Arab oil embargo? (Which may not have
been its first time around, but I don't recall the earlier occasions.)
Anyway, cow magnets have a legitimate use -- in dairying and ranching.  
Some idiot-savant decided to expose his carburetor to their mysterious 
magnetic field and perceived an increase in his gas mileage.  Mystified 
feed-store proprietors were cleaned out of the things within weeks by
people who had never come closer to a cow than at McDonald's.

Anyway, the LEAST of the arguments against this nonsense is what happens
in the creation and subsequent fate of the air/fuel mixture.  Aligning
molecules -- what on earth good would that do anyway?  Mixing isn't a
chemical reaction! Anyway, it would be a lot like aligning perfume
molecules before releasing them into a thunderstorm.  Or aligning your
hair before going down the Tower o' Death Water Slide at the amusement
park.  One car maker (Honda?) even used to brag about its "High Swirl" 
combustion chamber, which tells you a bit about what's going on.

All you're doing in carburetion is blowing about one part gasoline
(at the level of tiny droplets, I believe, not molecules) into about
16 parts air and mixing it up as homogeneously as possible before
the spark.  There are a lot more details, of course, but... aligning
the molecules?  Sheesh.

There's also the simple "follow the money -- always follow the money"
argument.  Car makers spend millions upon millions of <currency unit>
trying to squeeze out a little more gas mileage without compromising
performance, room, and other things that consumers demand.  If these
magnetic gizmos (which, as you've gathered, have been kicking around
for years in one form or another) could help, wouldn't the manufacturers
be all over them like white on rice?  (Those who think the car makers,
oil companies, and Rothschild/Zionist/House-of-Windsor dope cartel are
involved in a monstrous conspiracy to suppress 150-mpg carburetors may
proceed to alt.conspiracy at this time.)

I have to get back to my "day job."  Maybe if time permits I'll try
to dope out just how they expect their little magnet to align the
molecules in the first place.  (The NMR literature would be a good 
starting point for a real scorched-earth debunking of this device.)
Meanwhile, rest assured that the device is of more interest to the
bunko squad and the consumer-protection bureau than to automotive
engineers.

Joe
Not speaking for LBL or the Department of Energy (though something
tells me neither of them would be inclined to disagree...)