# Back to the Future 3: Making Gasoline **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839 "2015-09-03T18:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/101 "2015-09-08T02:26:43Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > “Admiral Kirk! You don’t wanna give me the Genesis device? …_Okey doke_.” What . . . does . . . a . . . warp . . . field . . . attenuator . . . do? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/102 "2015-09-08T04:06:38Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You know, I’ve always wanted to see a movie where a wild-eyed old man in tattered clothes steps out of a time machine and implores his younger self to drop everything and rush to the local hospital this very hour to donate blood, for lo the apocalypse is nigh – and the young man _does,_ and then grows up in a world of peace and prosperity where he eventually invents a working time machine. > > Anyhow, he’s successful and happy – a loving husband, a proud father, a man with plenty of money in the bank after a long and fulfilling life – and _wow, has it been fifty years already? Yup, there’s the red-letter day on my calendar. Well, looks like I’d better tear at my clothes and get a crazy look in my eyes and go put on an act. “The apocalypse is nigh!” Heh. Man, was I gullible back then._ That’s a minor element in Harry Harrison’s time-travel novel _The Technicolor Time Machine_. The main character meets a future version of himself that has a large cast on his arm and begins fretting about how he’s (eventually, inevitably) going to get injured. Somewhere along the way, he gets a splinter in his finger and the film studio’s nurse casually removes it with tweezers - a trivial booboo, not even needing a band-aid. At that moment, he realizes his future self was just fucking with him so he decides he’ll fuck with his younger self, grabs all kinds of bandages to build an impressive-looking but utterly fake cast for his arm… Anyhoo, regardless of how the DeLorean gets powered, I figure it’ll have to be fitted to run on train tracks since that’ll be the only surface smooth enough for an 88mph vehicle to travel without wiping out, short of taking a trip to the Salt Flats. And transparent aluminum was _not_ used in _Star Trek IV_. Rather, the _formula_ for transparent aluminum was traded for a sufficient quantity of six inch polymer sheets (and presumably the use of a delivery helicopter) that Plexicorp already had in stock. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/103 "2015-09-08T04:26:55Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > And transparent aluminum was _not_ used in _Star Trek IV_. Rather, the _formula_ for transparent aluminum was traded for a sufficient quantity of six inch polymer sheets (and presumably the use of a delivery helicopter) that Plexicorp already had in stock. Couldn’t they have just paid them in quatloos? (or just beamed the materials they wanted aboard. That is: Steal it.) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/104 "2015-09-08T11:19:24Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Couldn’t they have just paid them in quatloos? > > (or just beamed the materials they wanted aboard. That is: Steal it.) It’s a cute adventure story, but the plot of _Star Trek IV_ unravels on multiple points and with even minor scrutiny. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/105 "2015-09-08T12:48:06Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Couldn’t they have just paid them in quatloos? > > (or just beamed the materials they wanted aboard. That is: Steal it.) They were having trouble with power at the time, making transporting difficult. It seemed to limit how much they could transport at a time. It’s also why they had to go after Chekov. There’s also the issue of how much room they had in the transporter room. It was smaller than usual. “Site to site” transportation (not using the transporter pads) is apparently hard back in the TOS days, ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/106 "2015-09-08T13:02:31Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It’s a cute adventure story, but the plot of _Star Trek IV_ unravels on multiple points and with even minor scrutiny. Blasphemy! ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/107 "2015-09-08T17:00:37Z")
I could continue the Trek derailment by saying they had the energy to beam aboard several thousands of tons of whale & water, but the plexi would’ve put them over their energy budget?.. HOWEVER!.. Instead I will ask a different BTTF question about the first movie that’s similar to my OP question: \*\*The Doc seemed pretty upset at trying to find a power source capable of delivering 1.21 gigawatts (4.4 x 10[sup]12[/sup] joules per hour) into the flux capacitor when Marty and Doc-1955 first met. Would it really be that difficult to create some sort of generator and capacitors (heh) to build up enough charge over a week or so and just release it into the DeLorean in much the same way they did on that fateful night, but in a much more controlled environment, in 1955?\*\* ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/108 "2015-09-08T17:10:21Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I could continue the Trek derailment by saying they had the energy to beam aboard several thousands of tons of whale & water, but the plexi would’ve put them over their energy budget?.. HOWEVER!.. > > Instead I will ask a different BTTF question about the first movie that’s similar to my OP question: > > \*\*The Doc seemed pretty upset at trying to find a power source capable of delivering 1.21 gigawatts (4.4 x 10[sup]12[/sup] joules per hour) into the flux capacitor when Marty and Doc-1955 first met. > > Would it really be that difficult to create some sort of generator and capacitors (heh) to build up enough charge over a week or so and just release it into the DeLorean in much the same way they did on that fateful night, but in a much more controlled environment, in 1955?\*\* Actually, to half-answer my own question, it seems that’s 4 tera-joules (4 trillion joules). Approximately 1/16th the amount of energy released when “Little Boy” exploded over Hiroshima. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/109 "2015-09-08T22:51:22Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Actually, to half-answer my own question, it seems that’s 4 tera-joules (4 trillion joules). Approximately 1/16th the amount of energy released when “Little Boy” exploded over Hiroshima. 4.4 trillion joules PER HOUR. If you only need it for a micro second, it becomes much more manageable. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/110 "2015-09-09T00:21:58Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > 4.4 trillion joules PER HOUR. If you only need it for a micro second, it becomes much more manageable. Gah, of course. So, let’s say the flux capacitor needs 1.21 gigawatts for a one-second reaction. Then they’d need only 1/3600th of that amount of energy. It of course works out to 1,210,000,000 joules. :smack: They could probably hook up a generator to the DeLorean’s wheels to charge and store the needed energy. If they kept the wheels going 90 mph on jacks, how long would they have to keep the wheels spinning and what sort of equipment might they need to release it all in one go? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/111 "2015-09-09T03:03:29Z")
San Luis Obispo, my town, is putting on a BTTF complete marathon, on the big screen for charity, if anyone wants to beam on over. [https://www.sosc.org/backtothefuture](https://www.sosc.org/backtothefuture) ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/112 "2015-09-09T03:30:46Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > San Luis Obispo, my town, is putting on a BTTF complete marathon, on the big screen for charity, if anyone wants to beam on over. > [Bot Verification](https://www.sosc.org/backtothefuture) Saturday, Sept 26. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/113 "2015-09-09T04:01:51Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > San Luis Obispo, my town, is putting on a BTTF complete marathon, on the big screen for charity, if anyone wants to beam on over. > [Bot Verification](https://www.sosc.org/backtothefuture) Oh, sweet! Dopefest??? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/114 "2015-09-27T03:40:42Z")
No one responded to my Dopefest suggestion, but I’m at the BttF marathon now. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/115 "2015-09-27T06:13:45Z")
I was expecting to be out of town, but wasn’t, so I was there, too. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/116 "2016-07-15T01:21:46Z")
Rise from your grave…and rescue my daughter! Ok, so i watched BtF III last night for the first time in…a lot of years…and I kept thinking of this thread the whole time. Here’s a point that I don’t think anyone has hit on yet (although I admit I just briefly re-scanned the whole thread instead actually rereading it all, so maybe I missed it). Doc didn’t need to make gasoline. He needed to make electric motors for the Delorean. He made them for his model train, so we know he had the materials. And with the Mr. Fusion, he’d have plenty of power to make or do anything, including powering said Delorean to 88mph on it’s own. Though I agree, it would be easiest to still run it on the train tracks. But you’d no longer need to deal with a train, or magic hay, or an unfinished bridge. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/117 "2016-07-15T02:20:21Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > …Maybe the DeLorean’s hover tech had just enough power to land before it was fried as well? Presumably in order to be “air legal” there has to be some kind of failsafe emergency landing system. > [@jimbuff314](#): > > Wow. That guy’s come a long way since driving a cab. Glad he wasn’t kept institutionalized. Speaking of people being institutionalized; what happens after the timeline changes when Marty’s parents start to realize that he’s suddenly from bizarre memory failures and making up weird new ones? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/118 "2016-07-15T03:29:44Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Rise from your grave…and rescue my daughter! > > Ok, so i watched BtF III last night for the first time in…a lot of years…and I kept thinking of this thread the whole time. Here’s a point that I don’t think anyone has hit on yet (although I admit I just briefly re-scanned the whole thread instead actually rereading it all, so maybe I missed it). > > Doc didn’t need to make gasoline. He needed to make electric motors for the Delorean. He made them for his model train, so we know he had the materials. And with the Mr. Fusion, he’d have plenty of power to make or do anything, including powering said Delorean to 88mph on it’s own. Though I agree, it would be easiest to still run it on the train tracks. But you’d no longer need to deal with a train, or magic hay, or an unfinished bridge. Keep in mind that they were working under a deadline. They had to evacuate 1885 before Buford Tannen shot the Doc in the back over a matter of eighty dollars. Sure, Marty put paid to Buford’s murderin’ plans, but they already had the train plan ready to go by then. Constructing an electric motor from 1885 parts and tech that was capable of fitting inside the DeLorean and accelerating it to 88 miles per hour was probably too tall an order anyway. I don’t know much about motors, but I imagine they require a lot of precisely fabricated parts with tight tolerances. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/119 "2016-07-15T03:43:35Z")
At 88 MPH the vehicle would cross enough lines of geomagnetic flux to trigger the…the…, I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839/120 "2016-07-15T03:48:58Z")
Just remembered this. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LI-Wq-e480E/hqdefault.jpg "Back to the Future Alternate Ending") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI-Wq-e480E) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-3-making-gasoline/729839.md?page=7)