Question

. His trip consumed 10 gallons of gasoline. By simple calculation, he determined that his trip generated about _______ lb. of CO2 that went into the air. He was amazed, but didn’t dwell on it because to him the atmosphere was infinite in size and could not

Answer 1

Answer:

B. 20 lbs of CO2

Explanation:

From correct sources, One gallon weighs about 6.3 pounds,

The options for complete correct question should be

[a ] 6.3

[ b] 20

[ c] 200

SOLUTION

When gasoline burns, water (H2O) is formed by the combination of hydrogen combines with oxygen, so also carbon dioxide (CO2) is formed as carbon combines with oxygen.

Atomic weight of C is 12, oxygen is 16

The molecular weight of CO2 is therefore 12 + (16 × 2) =44

weight of the carbon in the gasoline = molecular weight of CO2/Atomic weight is Carbon

=44/12 = 3.7

gasoline contains about 87% carbon with 13% hydrogen by weight

Weight of the carbon in a gallon of gasoline 6.3 lbs. x 87% = 5.48 lbs

In order to get the amount of CO2 generated in pounds

multiply the weight of the carbon (5.5 pounds) by 3.7

= 20 pounds of CO2!