If there are approximately 83000 people living in Nampa Idaho at the time this q
ID: 518969 • Letter: I
Question
If there are approximately 83000 people living in Nampa Idaho at the time this question is written April 24th 2017 and if there is a average of 4 people per household and that each household owns two cars let's perform a calculation to determine how much total carbon dioxide is generated at STP by the residents of the city of Nampa each year by use of the following information. Each car has a 16 gallon gasoline tank. Each car in each household consumes one tank of gasoline per week during each week of the year. Let's assume that gasoline is pure benzene C6H6 and is burned to completion in air when the tank is empty. The density of benzene is 5.76 lbs/gallon.
again the question is approximately how much total carbon dioxide gas is generated by the residents of Nampa. We will ignore the other sources of carbon dioxide generation in the city.
Explanation / Answer
No. of peolpe living in Nampa Idaho = 83000
Average no. of peolpe living in a house = 4
No. of households in Nampa Idaho = 83000/4 = 20750
No. of cars per house = 2
Total no. of cars in Nampa Idaho = 2 x 20750 = 41500
Gasoline Tank capacity of each car = 16 gallons
Gasoline consumed by each car for 1 week = 1 tank of gasoline = 16 gallons
Gasoline (benzene) consumed by each car in a year = 52 x 16 = 832 gallons
Gasoline (benzene) consumed by each car in a year = 832 gallons x 5.76 lbs/ gallon = 4792 lbs
Total Gasoline (benzene) consumed by all cars in a year = 4792 lbs x 41500 = 1.988 x 108 lbs/year
If gasoline is purely benzene then upon combustion it gives CO2 and water vapor as shown below
2 C6H6 + 15 O2 --------------------------> 12 CO2 + 6 H2O
Mol. wts 78 g........ 32 g.......................................44 g.........18 g
Total wts 156 g ..........480 g.............................. 528 g........ .108 g
0.344 lbs 1.164 lbs
1 lbs 3.384 lbs
If 1 lb of benzene produces 3.384 lbs of CO2 then how many lbs of CO2 produced by 1.988 x 108 lbs of benzene
= 3.384 x 1.988 x 108
= 6.727 x 108 lbs
Total carbon dioxide gas generated by the cars of residents of Nampa households in a year = 6.727 x 108 lbs