From http://www.indianaobserver.com/2002/09/octane.html:
"One old story was that if you put moth balls in a car’s gas tank it would keep the engine from pinging. The story had a basis in fact. Moth balls contained a chemical that has a powerful anti-knock effect. I have seen moth-balled gasoline tested in the laboratory for its octane rating. The moth balls would dissolve in the gas tank and become an anti-knock additive. The trick was to put enough moth balls into the tank to increase the octane enough to prevent pinging. Modern moth balls do not contain that chemical and will not stop engine pinging."
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Scientific theories are the most reliable, rigorous, and comprehensive form of scientific knowledge. This is significantly different from the common usage of the word "theory", which implies that something is a conjecture, hypothesis, or guess.
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