Dante Montes, age 11, of Visalia, Calif., for his question:

OF WHAT IS GASOLINE MADE?

Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons obtained in the fractional distillation and ''cracking '''of petroleum. The light, volatile fuel oil is used to power most of our cars.

Ethyl gas is a trade name given to aviation and automobile gasoline to which some additives have been included to keep it from knocking during compression and firing in an engine. Added are tetraethyl lead and ethylene dibromide.

About 89 pecent of the gasoline produced in the United States is used for auto and boat fuel. The rest is used for making solvents and for cooking.

Many of the automobiles manufactured these days are designed to use low lead gas, which reduces air pollution and helps prevent environmental problems.