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Re: [Phys-l] gasoline



That sounds approximately correct. As for "proof" with a chemical reaction you would need the chemical formula for gasoline which is a blend of several hydrocarbons. But if we simply look at each carbon atom in the gasoline reacting to combine with two oxygen atoms from the air, to produce CO2 the number seems reasonable.
Pati

Anthony Lapinski wrote:
In the September 2006 issue of Popular Science, there is an interesting
article on starting on page 50: "The Race To 100 MPG." A prize of $25
million will be given to the first group to bring a 100-mpg car to market.
And the race is on! The article states, "Each gallon of gasoline burned
adds about 19 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere." I did some
research and found that one gallon of gasoline weighs about 6.2 lbs, so I
was surprised at this 19 lb figure. Am I missing something here? Can
someone "prove" this with a chemical reaction to confirm/deny this claim?

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--

/Pati Sievert/

/Outreach Coordinator, NICADD and Department of Physics/

/Northern //Illinois// //University///

/DeKalb//, //IL// //60115///

/sievert@physics.niu.edu <mailto:sievert@physics.niu.edu>/

/(815) 753-6418/

/www.physics.niu.edu/frontier/