@jamesqf The recipe for making gasoline varies seasonally so your comparison can't be made directly. If you're interested there is a decently interesting article in popular mechanic about it as well as other sources.

I'd hazard to guess that this is probably a big difference between an undergraduate math and physics course. The math course may say anything that solves the PDE is a wave since it solves the wave equation while physicists will tend toward bounded solutions only.

While I suppose this is a plausible solution I don't really think it answers the question as written

@LDC3 Wouldn't defrost cause you to lose more heat to the environment outside the car?