You know that air has weight, but how much of a gas is a pound? If you use your chemistry and math skills to complete this activity, you will be able to provide a interesting visual display to others and help to raise awareness about air pollution.
There are grams in a pound. The first step is to find out how many grams of the chosen pollutant are in a mole. This number can be calculated using values from the Periodic Table of Elements.
Add the grams per mole for each compound. For example, one atom of oxygen is 16 grams per mole and carbon is 12 grams per mole. This totals 44 grams per mole of carbon dioxide molecule. CO 2 is 2 oxygen atoms plus 1 carbon atom. For your convenience, we have listed the weights of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide, three pollutants given off by cars.
Insert these values for "X" depending on the pollutant:. There are Multiply by this number of liters and you have converted the pound of gas into an equivalent number of liters. For example, if you are dealing with CO 2 , which you have calculated to be liters per pound, divide by 2. This tells you that you need Individual vehicles may differ in miles traveled and pollution emitted per mile than indicated here.
Emission rates and fuel consumption totals may differ slightly from original sources due to rounding. They assume an average, properly maintained vehicle on the road in July operating on typical gasoline on a warm summer day.
Emissions may be higher in very hot especially HC or very cold especially CO weather. The calculations for Total Annual Pollution Emitted and Fuel Consumed are based on average annual passenger car miles of 12, miles and an average annual light truck mileage of 15, miles.
Fuel consumption is based on fleetwide average in-use fuel economy of Toggle navigation Environmental Quality. A-Z Topic Index. Office of Air Quality. Here's a few key areas to consider. Cars consume a lot of energy before they ever make it to the open road. Automotive production leaves a giant footprint because materials like steel, rubber, glass, plastics, paints, and many more must be created before a new ride is ready to roll.
Plastics, toxic battery acids, and other products may stay in the environment. Fortunately, junkyard pile-ups are becoming much smaller than they were in the past. Production, recycling, and disposal costs to the environment are difficult to quantify and largely beyond the control of most consumers. It's also true that most of an automobile's environmental impact, perhaps 80 to 90 percent, will be due to fuel consumption and emissions of air pollution and greenhouse gases that climate scientists say are driving global warming.
Fortunately, the level of that impact is very much under the control of the driver. Petroleum products raise environmental red flags even before they are burned.
Extracting them from the earth is an energy-intensive process that can damage local ecosystems. Shipping fuels can also consume a lot of energy, and creates an occasional environmental disaster such as an oil spill. As world demand rises, and unconventional fuel sources, such as oil sands , become more economically viable, the ecological impacts of petroleum extraction might also increase dramatically.
It's also partly why electric-powered vehicles can help reduce environmental impacts, because they don't burn fossil fuels. The smog, carbon monoxide, and other toxins emitted by vehicles are especially troubling because they leave tailpipes at street level, where humans breathe the polluted air directly into their lungs.
That can make auto emissions an even more immediate health concern than toxins emitted high in the sky by industrial smokestacks. Also difficult to quantify, another associated impact of cars is the building of roads to support them, as well as the urban sprawl that tends to follow in their wake. This issue can be difficult to tease out of other factors, such as population growth and resource consumption, but it is also not easily addressed by technological advancements like fuel efficiency and electric propulsion.
Road building has a big impact on emissions and wildlife. All rights reserved. Due to Washington's adoption of the more protective Clean Car standards , even traditional gasoline vehicles available in Washington run cleaner.
Electric, hybrid, and even compact fuel-efficient gas vehicles may not meet all drivers' needs. While the initial cost of some these vehicles may have put them out of reach for many of us, as they become more common, prices are becoming much more affordable. If your job or lifestyle requires a larger vehicle, you can compare the fuel economy of available vehicles. Driving the most efficient vehicle you can get reduces pollution and saves you money. Regardless of what you drive, you can make sure your car runs as clean and efficiently as possible.
Maintain your vehicle and keep it in good repair. Follow your owner's manual and make sure you schedule regular oil changes and other maintenance. Newer vehicles have very complex emission controls to keep them running as clean as possible. If any of these controls are not functioning as designed, your vehicle will pollute more than it should.
A check engine light on your dashboard means your vehicle is not operating as designed and needs repairs or maintenance. You should take your vehicle to a qualified automotive technician. Keeping your tires properly inflated makes your vehicle run more efficiently and burn less fuel. You will find the correct tire pressure for your vehicle in your owner's manual.
The way you drive can also influence how much pollution comes from your vehicle. Observing posted speed limits is one way to reduce pollution, and it's safer. Driving faster burns more fuel and emits more air pollutants. Accelerating gradually also burns less fuel. Getting a vehicle moving from a complete stop uses the most energy, so go easy on the accelerator.
Try to anticipate the road ahead and avoid racing from red light to red light. Instead, strive to maintain a steady speed with less stop and go driving. Melanie Forster Environmental Specialist melanie.
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