Gasoline Pill
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The gasoline pill or gasoline powder is claimed to turn
water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
into
gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...
, which can be used to run a combustion engine. The gasoline pill is one of several claims of suppressed inventions that circulate as
urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
s. Usually these urban legends allege a
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
that the
oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...
seeks to suppress the technology that turns water to gasoline.


Guido Franch

In the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, the best known claim to have created a gasoline pill was the work of one Guido Franch, who was active from the 1950s through the 1970s. Franch called the resulting liquid ''Mota fuel''. Guido Franch was a
blue collar A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...
worker who lived in Livingston,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
. His invention was a green powder that was added to water, which he claimed had actually been invented by a fictitious German scientist named Dr. Alexander Kraft. Franch took money from a number of small
investors An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...
who read about his claims in the ''National Tattler'' or a similar tabloid publication. In what became a frequent motif, he claimed that the water-into-gasoline powder formula could not be disclosed for fear that the oil industry would have it suppressed. Franch, when pressed into providing samples of his transmutation powder, produced samples of green
food coloring Food coloring, color additive or colorant is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts color when it is added to food or beverages. Colorants can be supplied as liquids, powders, gels, or pastes. Food coloring is commonly used in commercia ...
. As a result of his activities, Franch was prosecuted several times for fraud. His first trial in 1954 resulted in his acquittal when a prosecution witness admitted that it might be possible that "mota fuel" worked. His second trial in 1979 resulted in his conviction.


Other water-to-gasoline "inventors"

In 1916, Louis Enricht claimed to have a water-to-gasoline pill. Enricht was convicted of fraud in a related case, claiming to have a method for extracting gasoline from
peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
, and served time in
Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison for men operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining (village), New York, Ossining, New York, United States. It is abou ...
prison. (The
Fischer–Tropsch process The Fischer–Tropsch process (FT) is a collection of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, known as syngas, into liquid hydrocarbons. These reactions occur in the presence of metal catalysts, typically at te ...
, which can accomplish this, had not been invented yet.) In 1917, John Andrews pitched a water-to-gasoline powder to the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
. Andrews disappeared after making his pitch, but it turned out that he had returned to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, where he was serving in the
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...
.FOCUS, Volume 1, Number 10 (December 31, 1985) In 1996, Ramar Pillai from South India (
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
) claimed to be able to transmute water to gasoline by a herbal formula that he claimed was the result of a miraculous bush '' Boswellia ovalifoliolata''. Pillai obtained of land to cultivate his bush, but in fact it turned out that he was using
sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' () comprises fine motor skills used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card fl ...
to substitute
kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
for the liquid he claimed to have derived from the bush. In October 2016 Pillai and an associate were convicted of fraud and sentenced to 3 years of rigorous imprisonment. In 1983, Wang Hongcheng announced his Hongcheng Magic Liquid, which purportedly turned regular water into fuel with just a few drops. His announcement was widely covered by Chinese media and he was even given public funding for a company that never released a product. Years later, in 1994, the Chinese government declared that superstition and pseudoscience was rising in China and that it would start efforts to stop it. One of those efforts was to publish an article critical of Hongcheng in ''
Science and Technology Daily ''Science and Technology Daily'' (, Keji Ribao) is the official newspaper of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of ...
'', thus turning the tide of public opinion against him. Hongcheng was investigated, put on trial, and imprisoned for fraud and deceit. Between 1992 and 2007 a businessman called Tim Johnston managed to garner over $100 million from investors, principally in Australia and New Zealand, for the promotion of a "magic pill that cut emission and made fuel last longer". Registered in the Virgin Islands, his company
Firepower International Firepower International was a fraudulent company that advertised as a Hong Kong-based company owned and operated by Global Fuel Technologies Ltd, specializing in technology purporting to reduce the fuel consumption and environmental impact of Int ...
finally collapsed. No assets could be retrieved and no evidence could be found of the efficacy of the much-vaunted fuel tablet. Despite the illusory nature of the product, the company had attracted high-profile promoters and investors from the Australian government, armed forces, sport and show business.Smoking out Firepower
at "
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...
" (January 30th 2010).


Chemical impossibility

A gasoline pill is chemically impossible. Gasoline is a
hydrocarbon fuel In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic; their odor is usually faint, and may ...
; this means it consists of a mixture of molecules made up of carbon and hydrogen (e.g.
Octane Octane is a hydrocarbon and also an alkane with the chemical formula C8H18, and the condensed structural formula CH3(CH2)6CH3. Octane has many structural isomers that differ by the location of branching in the carbon chain. One of these isomers ...
C8H18). Water on the other hand consists of hydrogen and oxygen (H2O). It would be necessary to introduce 8 parts carbon for every 9 parts of water to make any conversion of the form : 18 H2O + X → 2 C8H18 + 9 O2 work, where X is the gasoline pill. A
mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole" * Golden mole, southern African mammals * Marsupial mole Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found i ...
of water has a mass of 18.0146 grams, while a mole of carbon has a mass of 12.01 grams. Based on the above equation, a pill that turns a kilogram of water into gasoline would need to contain 592.60 grams of carbon. The claims discussed here do not address the source of carbon needed to make up the balance, and instead propose that just a small amount of X would suffice, which is impossible due to
conservation of mass In physics and chemistry, the law of conservation of mass or principle of mass conservation states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter the mass of the system must remain constant over time. The law implies that mass can neith ...
. Also note that nuclear processes only found inside stars would be necessary to transmute hydrogen into carbon. The simplest stoichiometry of such a "pill" would be the hydrocarbon C8H9 which, if it existed, would be a fuel in its own right.


Gasoline pills in fiction

The storyline of the 1943
Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...
film, ''
Jitterbugs ''Jitterbugs'' is an American 1943 Laurel and Hardy feature-length musical comedy film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by Mal St.Clair. Plot Stan and Ollie are musicians traveling across the U.S. as "The Original Zoot Suit Band". Durin ...
'', revolves around a con man ( Bob Bailey) selling gas pills during the fuel rationing days of WWII. In the 1949 motion picture ''Free For All'',
Robert Cummings Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in d ...
starred as a scientist who claimed to have invented a pill that turned water into gasoline. The 1940s television/radio show ''
People Are Funny ''People Are Funny'' is an American radio and television game show, created by John Guedel that ran from 1942 to 1960 in which contestants were asked to carry out stunts in order to prove that "People Are Funny." Many stunts lasted weeks, mont ...
'' performed a stunt in which an unsuspecting crowd at
Hollywood and Vine Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, California, became known in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered on the intersectio ...
were sold "Atom Pills" at a quarter apiece. A "scientist" claimed that one pill could do the work of a hundred gallons of gasoline. When the stunt was revealed, few of the dozens who had fought to buy the pills came up to get their money back. In the television
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
''
The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor backwoods family ...
'',
Jethro Bodine ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor backwoods family fro ...
claimed to have devised a water to gasoline pill that ran the Clampetts' old truck on water. In an episode of the 1960s American
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
''
The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom about the home life of a family of benign monsters that aired from 1964 to 1966 on CBS. The series stars Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster (Frankenstein's monster),Episodes referring to the fact that Herman is ...
'', The Sleeping Cutie, Grandpa invents a gasoline pill. A season three episode of the 1950s American television show, '' Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond'', "Where Are They?", which originally aired 13 December 1960, presented a story about a man calling himself Charles Elton. Elton allegedly demonstrated to government representatives in 1917 a pill that costs 2 cents that can turn 10 gallons of water into a fuel that can power an auto engine. After his successful exhibition, Elton vanishes. The 1977 Italian comedy movie '' Squadra Antitruffa'' (meaning "Anti-scam Squad") presents a story about a scammer repeatedly demonstrating "ionized hydrogen" pills, made in Japan, that are added to a car's fuel tank after filling it with water, which is then allegedly turned into fuel. The scammer then convinces the marks to buy a number of useless pills at 10000 lire each, until a rough-mannered cop exposes the scam and mocks the scammer saying "he fills his fuel tank with turds". In E.L. Doctorow's historical novel ''
Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
'',
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...
must deal with a man claiming to have invented a water-to-gasoline pill; possibly a reference to Louis Enricht. In episode 254 of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'', "
The Computer Wore Menace Shoes “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" is the sixth episode of the The Simpsons season 12, twelfth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States o ...
," Homer is trapped on a mysterious island with, among others, a ''Number 27'' who is trapped there because she knows how to turn water into gasoline.


See also

*
Firepower International Firepower International was a fraudulent company that advertised as a Hong Kong-based company owned and operated by Global Fuel Technologies Ltd, specializing in technology purporting to reduce the fuel consumption and environmental impact of Int ...
, purveyor of a fraudulent gasoline additive pill * Hongcheng Magic Liquid *
Oxyhydrogen Oxyhydrogen is a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) gases. This gaseous mixture is used for torches to process refractory materials and was the first gaseous mixture used for welding. Theoretically, a ratio of 2:1 hydrogen:oxygen is enough ...
* Stanley Meyers' water fuel cell * Water-fuelled car * Water injection


References

{{Urban legends Fictional power sources Water fuel Consumer fraud American urban legends Hoaxes in the United States Pseudoscience