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I just read this article on The Reader's Digest which writes to say

If you get behind the wheel only to discover that your car’s battery has given up the ghost — and there’s no one around to give you a jump — you may be able to get your vehicle started by dropping two aspirin tablets into the battery itself. The aspirin’s acetylsalicylic acid will combine with the battery’s sulfuric acid to produce one last charge. Just be sure to drive to your nearest service station.

Does this technique work to revive a flat car battery enough for one more start?

Oddthinking
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Everyone
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  • It doesn't even make sense--there are six cells, not two. Even if an aspirin could revive a flat cell you need all six to start the car. – Loren Pechtel Oct 10 '16 at 19:15
  • @LorenPechtel: Potentially quibbling - it could be construed to mean 2-aspirin per cell. – Everyone Oct 10 '16 at 19:46
  • It just says "the battery". This is an article for general consumption, it makes no sense to read it except for as a layperson would. Not that it matters, since a weak organic acid would do nothing to help a strong inorganic acid to do anything it wasn't already able. – Nij Oct 10 '16 at 22:24
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    IF the battery were just a tiny bit low on acid, chucking in something acidic might help just enough to give you a spark from your spark plug. But it'd be a very marginal thing indeed. And it's not just aspirine that'd do, but anything acidic. – jwenting Oct 11 '16 at 03:09
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    @Nij: A weak organic acid & strong inorganic acid may together constitute a superacid.... For instance (if one is to believe the world-wide-web as a source) Acetic acid and Sulphuric acid. – Everyone Oct 11 '16 at 04:25
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    Hmmm, most car batteries today are sealed, so you can't pour anything into the cells... – sweber Oct 11 '16 at 11:28
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    Reader's Digest turned into Buzzfeed so gradually, I didn't even notice. – Reinstate Monica -- notmaynard Oct 11 '16 at 15:01

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