While nitromethane has a much lower energy density () than either gasoline () or methanol (), an engine burning nitromethane can produce up to 2.4 times as much power as an engine burning gasoline. This is made possible by the fact that, in addition to fuel, an engine needs oxygen in order to generate force: of air (21% oxygen) is required to burn of gasoline, compared to only of air for one kilogram of nitromethane, which, unlike gasoline, already has oxygen in its molecular composition. For a given amount of air consumed, this means that an engine can burn 7.6 times more nitromethane than gasoline.