Investigators at Temple University have thinned fuel by attaching an electrically charged tube to a diesel engine’s fuel line near the fuel injector. This is possible thanks to a well-known effect in which electric fields reduce the viscosity of a liquid. Reduced fuel viscosity allows much smaller droplets to be injected into the engine, leading to more efficient combustion. Road tests have shown electric fields to boost a car’s gas mileage by up to 20 percent. Expect the device to be in all kinds of internal-combustion engines in the near future.
