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The Gas Mileage Experiment

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to discover a method to save gas and money.

Hypothesis: Due to the extra weight of gasoline, it is the hypothesis of this experiment that a car will gain more mileage if it has less gas in it. Therefore, more mileage will occur in a car that fills it's tank half full twice, then a car that fills it full.

Equipment: For this experiment a car will be required with a working odometer (mileage thingy) pen and paper, a gas station to fill the car full of gas, and money to pay for the gasoline.

Procedure: The first step is to fill the car full of gas, and record the amount of gasoline that enters the car. Reset the odometer, and proceed in using the car until all the gas is expired. Then split the original total of gallons that went into the car in half, and fill the car to that amount, reset the odometer again. Repeat this step when the car uses up that gas. Finally, add the two totals of the half fills, and compare against the full filled total of mileage.

Observations:

Measurement Type Total Gallons at Fill up Total Milage
Full Fill-up 12.5 gallons 341.50 miles
Half Fill-up #1 6.3 gallons 204.85 miles
Half Fill-up #2 6.2 gallons 143.55 miles

Conclusion: In comparing the data , it is found that a full tank gets 341.5 miles or 27.3 miles/gallon, while two halves get 349.4 miles or 27.9 miles/gallon, a difference of 5.9 miles or .6 miles/gallon. This small difference leads to the assumption that, even though the hypothesis is proven true, it is not worth the second trip to the gas station and henceforth take the convienience of having to fill up just once.

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