Driving 1000 miles a month is not unusual for a...

Driving 1000 miles a month is not unusual for a short-distance commuter. If your vehicle gets 25 mpg, you would use 40 gallons $(\approx 150 \mathrm{L})$ of gasoline every month. If gasoline is approximated as $\mathrm{C}_{8} \mathrm{H}_{18}(d=0.703 \mathrm{g} / \mathrm{mL}),$ how much carbon dioxide does your vehicle emit every month? The unbalanced chemical equation for the reaction is$$ \mathrm{C}_{8} \mathrm{H}_{18}(\ell)+\mathrm{O}_{2}(g) \rightarrow \mathrm{CO}_{2}(g)+\mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{O}(g)$$.

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Key Concepts

Combustion Reaction Stoichiometry

This concept pertains to the use of a balanced chemical equation to relate the moles of reactants to the moles of products in a chemical reaction. In the context of hydrocarbon combustion, especially with octane, understanding the stoichiometric coefficients allows one to determine how many moles of carbon dioxide are produced per mole of fuel burned, which is crucial for calculating emissions.

Unit Conversion and Density

This involves converting the volume of a substance to its mass using its density, as well as translating between different volume units (such as gallons to milliliters or liters). These conversions are essential when the physical quantity provided (like fuel volume) must be related to its chemical amount (mass or moles) for reaction calculations.

Mole Concept and Molar Mass Calculation

The mole concept is fundamental in chemistry as it links the mass of a substance to the number of particles, using the molar mass as a conversion factor. This concept is used to determine the number of moles of octane in a given mass, and likewise, to convert the moles of CO2 produced into a mass, which is necessary to quantify the overall emissions.

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