Question

One gallon of gasoline in an automobile's engine produces on the average 9.5 kg of carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, that is, it promotes the warming of Earth's atmosphere. Calculate the annual production of carbon dioxide in kilograms if there are 40 million cars in the United States and each car covers a distance of 5300 miles at a consumption rate of 21 miles per gallon.

Answer 1

answer : 9.59 x 10^10 kg CO2 / yr

solution :

number of cars = 40 million

each covers a distance of = 5300 miles

the total distance covered by all cars = 40 x 10^6 x 5300

                                                           = 2.12 x 10^11 miles / year

rate of consumption = 21 miles / gallon

amount of gasoline consumed = 2.12 x 10^11 / 21

                                                 = 1 x 10^10 gallon / year

for 1 gallon produces = 9.5 kg of CO2

1 x 10^10 gallon produces = 1 x 10^10 x 9.5

                                           = 9.59 x 10^10 kg CO2 / yr