Oil and gas company ExxonMobil is promoting its new and improved gasoline in a television ad that is accompanied by a website called fuelprogress.com. The company promises that the fuel is developed at a molecular level to clean up vital intake valves. The accompanying flash animation here gives us a 'molecular view inside the combustion chamber (in text) and a microscopic view (the voice-over) that should explain how the fuel actually keeps the engine parts clean. The secret is a higher octane rating but what are we supposed to see in the animation?. The molecular view icon is an oddly placed ammonia molecule or a methane radical? And what are these monoatomic, diatomic and triatomic molecules? The ugly brown color of the wrinkly blobs in the front magically turns yellow in the course of the animation so it appears the molecules themselves get a cleanup. Nothing is actually explained in this molecular view.

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