Do you know what octane rating is? It is the opposite of what most people think.
Most people assume that a high number means that the gas burns hotter/faster, but the truth is that there is more retardant added to the fuel to make it burn slower/longer thereby producing more force against the piston for a longer period of time.
No, but I know that it is calculated by the (R+M)/2 Method.
Also, the higher octane is more resistant to detonation in high compression/forced induction engines where the compression alone can cause the fuel to ignite while the piston is still moving up. Bad news, it'll knock for a little, and then stuff breaks.
Lower octane gas should provided more power in lower compression vehicles, i.e. not a Corvette or a Subaru WRX Sti.
Close. Octane rating relates to the resistance of the fuel to detonation, which is the explosive combustion of part of the air-fuel mixture before the flame front reaches it. There are many different ways to reduce this propensity, not necessarily involving slowing down the combustion process. In fact, from what I know about detonation I would say that as a general rule a longer/slower burn would be more prone to detonation, not less. What is true is that most octane boosters use in fuels today have a lower specific energy than the main components of the fuel, so that higher octane fuel also generally has a lower specific energy than lower octane blends.