A single gallon of gasoline contains enough energy to lift a car 26 miles vertically
Gasoline possesses an extraordinary energy density of 33.7 kilowatt-hours per gallon, providing enough mechanical potential to propel a standard vehicle 26 miles straight into the atmosphere.
Liquid hydrocarbons pack 46 megajoules of energy per kilogram, a density roughly 100 times greater than solar panels by volume. This chemical potency allows a single gallon of regular unleaded gasoline to deliver 125,000 BTUs, sufficient to lift a car like the Toyota Prius 26 miles vertically. Refineries achieve this concentration through fractional distillation, a process that separates crude oil into specific hydrocarbons across 200°C boiling gradients.
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