Leaded Gasoline facts
While investigating facts about Leaded Gasoline Ban and Leaded Gasoline Near Me, I found out little known, but curios details like:
The reason lead levels in children's blood have dropped 85% in the past thirty years is because of an unknown scientist who fought car companies to end leaded gasoline. He also removed it from paint, suggested its removal from pipes, and campaigned for the removal of lead solder from cans.
how much lead was in leaded gasoline?
Many neurologists believe that the phaseout of leaded gasoline in the United States caused the average IQ to increase by several points.
What is the difference between leaded and unleaded gasoline?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what happened to leaded gasoline. Here are 50 of the best facts about Leaded Gasoline Crime and Leaded Gasoline Vs Unleaded I managed to collect.
what countries still use leaded gasoline?
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Removing lead from gasoline is thought to be one of the big factors that lead to the drop in the violent crime rate in America in the 1990s
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The inventor of leaded gasoline also invented Freon. Thomas Midgley, Jr. possessed "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny." and "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history."
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The "Loony Gas Building" was the name given to an old Standard Oil plant in 1924 after every single man who worked there was hospitalized for insanity... 5 of which died. The plant was manufacturing a new, breakthrough product: leaded gasoline additive.
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In 1924, when Standard Oil was researching tetraethyl lead as a gasoline additive, 32 of 49 workers had to be hospitalized due to lead poisoning, and 5 of them died. A federal panel made entirely of industry scientists later concluded that there "no danger” from tetraethyl lead.
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The phaseout of leaded gasoline (along with the large scale removal of many other leaded products) has been correlated with a 34% drop in violent crime in the United States.
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When Lead was removed from gasoline in the US, it was linked to a 56% decline in violent crime. Lead is a neurotoxin that can affect antisocial behavior.
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The man that figured out how old Planet Earth really is was the same one who discovered world-wide environmental lead contamination which eventually lead to leaded gasoline's banning.
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When lead was removed from gasoline, there was a dramatic decrease in the violent crime rate in the Western World.
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General Motors chemist Thomas Midgley Jr. invented both chlorofluorocarbons and leaded gasoline, having "more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history."
Why was leaded gasoline banned?
You can easily fact check why was there leaded and unleaded gasoline by examining the linked well-known sources.
New York tried to outlaw leaded gasoline back in the early 1920's - before it was commonplace. However, the Federal Government sided with Big Oil, overruling the state's decision.
TEL (tetraethyl lead), an octane booster gasoline additive that was killing Standard Oil Refinery workers or rendering them mad in the 1920's, wasn't' banned by the United States until 1986 largely due to business interests. - source
I learned of Thomas Midgley Jr., who ""had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history". He played a big role in inventing of leaded gasoline in 1921. After that, he joined a team that invented Freon. - source
Thomas Midgley Jr, inventor of CFC and leaded gasoline, who is regarded as having the greatest impact on the atmosphere of any single organism in history also accidentally strangled himself to death with his final invention. - source
When leaded gasoline was banned?
Dr. Thomas Midgely, inventor of both leaded-gasoline and chlorofluorocarbon with the best of intentions, devised an ingenious system of pulleys and strings to pull his polio-stricken body out of bed, which tangled around his neck, and killed him.
How to make leaded gasoline?
The scientist, Clair Patterson, who helped develop the atomic bomb, also saved humanity by stopping the use of Leaded Gasoline.
Thomas Midgley who invented Ethyl, the lead-based additive to gasoline, also invented chlorofluorocarbons, which just about destroyed the ozone layer. He got polio, invented a wire-and-pulley system to get himself out of bed, and then ended up being strangled by it.