ANSWERS

 

 NEXT
NEXT

BACK
BACK

CLEAN CITIES HOME
HOME

 

 

The extra weight comes from the OXYGEN (if you said "AIR" that’s OK too)! Oxygen (from the air) combines with carbon (in the fuel) to make CO2.

Details: Two atoms of oxygen (atomic weight 16) displace two atoms of hydrogen (atomic weight 1) to combine with each atom of carbon (atomic weight 12).

Before it’s burned, one sub-unit of fuel (CH2) has an atomic weight of 14.
(C=12, H=1; 12+1+1=14)

Burning (combustion) causes the carbon to combine with oxygen to form CO2, which has an atomic weight of 44.
(C=12, O=16; 12+16+16=44)

(The hydrogen also combines with oxygen, to form H2O (water), which has an atomic weight of 18. (H=1, O=16; 1+1+16=18) ... but that’s not part of the original question.)

That’s how fuel with a sub-unit atomic weight of around 14 can produce CO2 with an atomic weight of 44 or, as the question said it, how a gallon of fuel that weighs around 6.5 pounds can produce about 20 pounds of CO2 when it's burned!