This article is about combustion reactions in chemistry.This is why we combus t alkanes as fuels for our cars, planes, and other engines to heat our homes, and to power our electronics.
If you could eat petrol, this would be enough to feed an average man for over three days! When burnt, all the stored energy is released into the environment as heat. One litre of petrol contains roughly 33.6 megajoules of energy and provides over 8000 calories 1.
