MothBalls
 

Hi
Someone may have posted a thread like this. But I am doing a science project for school and I am doing it on mothballs raising preformance of R/C cars?
Does it really raise preformance and if so how?


Xtfreak

RE: MothBalls
 

Im no expert, but i feel that adding napthalene to your fuel will just have the same effect as adding a supercharger (which has already been determined to be detrimental)

RE: MothBalls
 

So will it break the engine. My dad just said it will "blow up" is that true?

RE: MothBalls
 

There are two types of mothballs. Napthalene and dichlorobenzene. Both will burn, but the latter produces hydrochloric acid, which will slowly eat away at an engine and its components. Camp stove fuel is a type of naptha, and I would think it would rob power rather than add to it.

Click & Clack, the car guys, did a show about this. They had some professor from Harvard explain why it wouldn't work in 1:1 cars. I think you may have been taken in on the myth that they add power in full size cars - which isn't true.

RE: MothBalls
 

I just think it would increase the likelyhood of predetonation.

RE: MothBalls
 

Hmm i do not now,nor am familiar with the properties of "moth balls"...but trying to think logically...if the additive is going to take up space in the combustion chamber then it must either burn faster and/or give off more energy to produce more power!See if you think about it your additive will take up space in the combustion chamber during the power stroke...so to achieve more power the additive must give off more energy than the item it's replacing....you see?
I'm totally willing to help you here Xtfreak but atm i'm in no fit state really.Give me your thoughts and i'll reply tomorrow.;)

RE: MothBalls
 

Thanks Anthoop. I have decided to do and experiment[8D] I have an old FMT something or other which has not been up and running for about a year. And I was thinking that I should put the mothballs in the fuel tank and see what happens. Now all I have to do is go to the lhs and buy some servos and a fuel tank. When I put the mothball in the tank should I crush it or put it in whole?

RE: MothBalls
 

Well,in my current strate i would say you need to crush them....at the very least.Solid will do nothing at all.You'll need to crush them to a very fine powder and mix with fuel.Your going to have to measure results from normal fuel and then fuel with your crushed additive to have any tangable results though.
Please....i really will have to weigh up my actual thoughts on this tomorrow...i am sorry but i'm 37 years old ...i've consumed...well too much alcohol tonight and my head is a bit...well fuzzy.;)...but do not be frightened..just be careful.;)

RE: MothBalls
 

I know the mythbusters (great show[8D]) took some mothballs and threw them into a gas tank on a car and it made the engine run faster... prety neat, as for a mini nitro engine, do it at your own risk, I do know that mothballs make ANYTHING burn faster, took some 50% rubbing alcohol and threw a moth ball or 2 into it, let it sit a minute, took it out and lit the solution on fire, burnt like gasoline, but with the cool effect of alcohol, that said, do it at ya own risk

RE: MothBalls
 

But my one question is will the engine "EXPLODE" or anything like that?

RE: MothBalls
 

I believe they were called MPG Caps they marketed for 1:1 cars in increasing their fuel efficiency, which has a main ingredient of napthalene, which is the same napthalene balls. Lots of debate going on with this product, company being sued etc. So most likely it really doesnt work.

Mixing with Nitro, Alcohol and oil might be a different story though. Just let us know what is the outcome.

RE: MothBalls
 

Ok it going to take some time thought cause I need to fix up my car first

RE: MothBalls
 

Someone kinda touched on this a little already. But you have to run the engine on plain nitro first and then do some test. Like maybe stop watch how long it takes to drive 300 ft or something. A couple test like that. Then after you use reg fuel do the moth ball experiment. Dont do it the other way around becuase we do not know any negative effects. Then as a 3rd test you could rerun them after the moth balls to see if it "ruined" the engine. Also you need to grind the moth balls up most likly and mix it with the fuel. Another thing to be sicentific is to figure out what % of moth balls you are using.

RE: MothBalls
 

Good luck. Just make shure what ever you do make shure you do it like 5 or so times and get the average...

RE: MothBalls
 

let the fuel sit for a while after you dump the powdered mothballs into it, like an hour or two, I don know that mothballs burn SMOKEY so lots of soot will prob build up in the pipe, ect.

RE: MothBalls
 

Jeez...just think about how all those poor innocent little Moths would feel...giving up their balls just so you might go a little faster!:eek::D

RE: MothBalls
 

full scale mechanics up north where you have to get your car TESTED for emisions actually tell people if they want to pass a test take some napthalene moth balls and crush them to a fine powder and put it in the gas tank ,,,i did this on my civic..

i had to take my b16 out and put the old 250,000 mile engine in ,,it wouldnt pass emissions test for nothing,,,
i did the mothball thing plus premium fuel with a quart of c16 fuel i drove it till it almost ran out of fuel ,,and that did the trick i was able to get plates for my 89 civic,,,,then i put my new engine back in and off i went no muffler no catalytic converter,,oh yea super loud..

but im not sure if it made the engine any faster ...and NITRO MEthane is already 10 times more explosive than gas so i wouldnt do it .

sounds like a msn news break ___KID BLOWS his face off and injures 20 other people after cranking a nitro rc car in school...

dont do it to much risk ...but if your a emo call all the jocks over and say check it out its going to be bad *****..lol

RE: MothBalls
 

ahah lol

This is for Preformancehobbies so are you saying it wil go BOOM? how would it blow up if I put moth balls in?

RE: MothBalls
 

not saying it will blow up i cant actually comment on that ,,BUT notro itself is very explosive much more than gas ,,i worked at a chemical company that designed water soluble lubrication,,,but on the side there lab guys were creating stuff everyday or attempting to mimic other chemicals like lysol and cleaners,,,the lab guy was amazed by my revo when i brought it to work to climb this big hill of dirt .

when i asked him what nitromethane actually is he went and put it through some tests along with some E-net info,,and he came back and said i probably shouldnt have it at work ,,,and went on to tell me that its like 10 times more explosive than GAS,and that the caster based oil used in it makes it sort of like NAPALM,,,many rc guys have poured nitro on the ground and lit it ---its wicked,,,so starting a nitro car with napalene moth balls crushed into it could possibly hazards in a school gym or science room,,,thats what im saying..

whatever you do take a video i would like to see what happened and who knows you could be on MAX-x or real tv or something ...lol

RE: MothBalls
 

Nitromethane was not known to be an explosive until the 1950s, when a whole railroad tanker car of it exploded, leaving a huge crater. Much testing later it was realized that nitromethane was a more energetic high explosive than TNT. Pure nitromethane is a very insensitive explosive, but even so inhibitors may be used to reduce the hazards.

The oxygen content of nitromethane enables it to burn with much less atmospheric oxygen in comparison to hydrocarbons such as gasoline:

4CH3NO2 + 3O2 → 4CO2 + 6H2O + 2N2

14.6 kg of air are required to burn one kg of gasoline, but only 1.7 kg of air for one kg of nitromethane. Since an engine’s cylinder can only contain a limited amount of air on each stroke, 8.7 times more nitromethane than gasoline can be burned in one stroke. However, nitromethane has a lower energy density. Gasoline provides about 42-44 MJ/kg, nitromethane provides only 11.3 MJ/kg. This analysis indicates that nitromethane generates about 2.3 times the power of gasoline when combined with a given amount of oxygen.
Formal Chemical Name (IUPAC)

rc ken erased mylast post without a explanation....
sorry i originaly posted that it is ten times more potent then gas but i should of said 2.3...which when your playing with it at school 0.1
percent would be plenty
and yes a place where i worked had lab guys who thought my nitro rc truck was cool ,until they realized that i was driving a explosive remote controlled bomb around a OSHA contained chemical depot,,,


so whatever ...i wouldnt start up a nitro car with additives around a indoor science fair

RE: MothBalls
 

I will be doing the test's at home then showing the results on paper on a diplay board.
Still need to fix up my car and get ready I still got a lot of time to get prepared so I will write if I need some help thanks for all your help guys:)

RE: MothBalls
 

im sure youve googled nitro methane and moth balls ,,,but retry a few different questions...

i found alot of usefull info like ,,,,putting moth balls in 89 fuel wouldnt do anything because mothballs are only a 89 % nature.

for instance if you put it in 87 gas it may boost it to 89 or something like that ,,,

i won a science fair one time with a --bending light box ..i used mirrors to bend different colors of light ,,
it showed how light could be used over and over by bending it all different ways ,,,got a first place ..lol brings back memories..

RE: MothBalls
 

Ok guys, My project is one January 17th so i dont have much time. Now I need a car thats under $300 can anyone think of one? thanks

Xtfreak

RE: MothBalls
 

try www.blacksmithproducta.co.uk for a cheap nitro chinease hting for about $200

RE: MothBalls
 

lol, wait 2.5 months and say its due tomorrow! But ya check out those cheaper Chinese ones, especially since it might ruin it.