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Speaker 1: Audible dot com is the leading provider of digital audio

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Speaker 1: books and spoken word, with over one thousand titles to

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Speaker 1: Go to Audible podcast dot com slash stuff brain to

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Speaker 1: get a free audio book download of your choice when

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Speaker 1: you sign up today. Welcome to brain Stuff from house

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Speaker 1: stuff works dot com where smart happens. Hi Am Marshall

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Speaker 1: Brain with today's question, what is the problem with MTB

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Speaker 1: in gasoline? If you have ever pump gas that claimed

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Speaker 1: to be oxygenated, something that's common in most urban areas

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Speaker 1: in the winter, then you have probably used gasoline containing

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Speaker 1: mt B E. Mt B E is the acronym for

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Speaker 1: methyl tertiary butle ether, a fairly simple molecule that is

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Speaker 1: created from methanol. Mt B E gets added to gasoline

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Speaker 1: for two re First, it boosts octane, and second, it's

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Speaker 1: an oxygen eate, meaning that it adds oxygen to the

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Speaker 1: reaction when it burns ideally, and oxygen eate reduces the

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Speaker 1: amount of unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide in a car's exhaust.

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Speaker 1: MTB started getting added to gasoline in a big way

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Speaker 1: after the clean air act of into effect. Gasoline can

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Speaker 1: contain as much as ten to fifteen per cent MTB.

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Speaker 1: The main problem with MTB is that it's thought to

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Speaker 1: be carcinogenic and it mixes easily with water. If gasoline

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Speaker 1: containing MTB leaks from an underground tank at a gas station,

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Speaker 1: it can get into groundwater and contaminate wells. Of course,

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Speaker 1: MTB isn't the only thing getting into the groundwater when

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Speaker 1: a tank leaks, so is gasoline and a host of

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Speaker 1: other gasoline additives. But in recent years MTB has been

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Speaker 1: singled out because of the amount of it, the water solubility,

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Speaker 1: and the cancer risk. Many states have now banned mtv E.

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Speaker 1: The thing replacing it in gasoline is ethanol normal alcohol.

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Speaker 1: It's somewhat more expensive than mt B, but it's not

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Speaker 1: a cancer threat. For more on this and thousands of

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Speaker 1: other topics, Is It How staff works dot com. Audible

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Speaker 1: dot com is the leading provider of digital audio books

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Speaker 1: and spoken word, with over one tho titles to choose from.

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Speaker 1: Audible lets you listen to your favorite books anywhere, anytime.

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Speaker 1: Go to audible podcast dot com slash stuff Brain to

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Speaker 1: get a free audio book download of your choice. When

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Speaker 1: you sign up today,