I can't do subscripts in notepad but it would go like octane (C8H18) + oxygen (O2) = carbon dioxide (CO2) + water (H20) balancing this to moles as 2(C8H18) + 25(O2) = 16(CO2) + 18(H20) converting to grams as 2*(114.23) octane = 16*(44.001) carbon dioxide 228.46 grams octane = 704.016 carbon dioxide 1 gram of octane = 3.081 grams of carbon dioxide. 6 pounds of octane = 18.486 pounds of CO2. Octane is just an approximation as modern fuels are oxygenated (partially pre burned) so the real number would be a little higher. 20 pounds from 6 pounds is in the ball park. Daniel Turner --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:
I'm sitting here fighting with the one non-Mac machine I own (not sure who is winning at the moment) and listening to BBC.
They just had a Yank on talking about energy consumption and pollution and at one point stated that "burning 6 gallons of gasoline will produce 20 pounds of CO2."
Any of the science whizzes here care to say if that's right or not?
I'm having trouble imagining how burning 6 pounds of gasoline can produce 20 pounds of CO2.
Patrick
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