How much does your fuel weigh :confused:

Kato · 30-07-2021, 09:28 AM

Useless information unless you happen to be a crew chief making critical calculations ...But

Got into an odd conversation about weight vs performance, full tank vs empty etc; which ended up posing the question how much does petrol weigh, thought the answer would be simple, turns out it’s not.

Obviously, the bike will get lighter as the fuel is used and it seemed to me at the time that fuel for a given volume would be a constant weight, well actually it’s not that easy as the density of petrol varies greatly! The only constant being that 1 UK gallon = 4.546lts

A little research reveals the density range of petrol is between 710 to 775 gram/ litre at 15-degree Celsius. So we can deduce that the weight of 1 litre of petrol at 15-degree Celsius varies from 710 to 775 grams and therefore 1 gallon weighs in at somewhere between 3,227.66gms / 3,523.15gms a potential variance of 0.29549kg or just over ½ lb

So your bike could get heavier or in fact lighter just by swapping from Shell to BP the next time you fill up, food for thought thats all.

30-07-2021, 09:28 AM	#1
Kato Dismantled Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: East Molesey Bike: Multiple Monsters Posts: 2,223	How much does your fuel weigh :confused: Useless information unless you happen to be a crew chief making critical calculations ...But Got into an odd conversation about weight vs performance, full tank vs empty etc; which ended up posing the question how much does petrol weigh, thought the answer would be simple, turns out it’s not. Obviously, the bike will get lighter as the fuel is used and it seemed to me at the time that fuel for a given volume would be a constant weight, well actually it’s not that easy as the density of petrol varies greatly! The only constant being that 1 UK gallon = 4.546lts A little research reveals the density range of petrol is between 710 to 775 gram/ litre at 15-degree Celsius. So we can deduce that the weight of 1 litre of petrol at 15-degree Celsius varies from 710 to 775 grams and therefore 1 gallon weighs in at somewhere between 3,227.66gms / 3,523.15gms a potential variance of 0.29549kg or just over ½ lb So your bike could get heavier or in fact lighter just by swapping from Shell to BP the next time you fill up, food for thought thats all. __________________ "Political correctness is just intellectual colonialism and psychological fascism for the creation of thought crime"