One gallon of gasoline in an automobile's engine produces on...

One gallon of gasoline in an automobile's engine produces on the average $9.5 \mathrm{kg}$ 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 $5000 \mathrm{mi}$ at a consumption rate of 20 miles per gallon.

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Key Concepts

Scaling and Aggregation

This involves multiplying an individual unit result by the total number of units—in this case, the number of vehicles—to assess the cumulative impact or total emissions on a larger scale. It is a fundamental approach in estimating aggregates in environmental and engineering calculations.

Emission Factor

An emission factor relates a measurable activity to the quantity of emissions generated. In this context, it connects the volume of gasoline burned to the mass of CO2 produced, enabling the computation of total emissions based on fuel consumption.

Rate Calculation (Fuel Efficiency)

Fuel efficiency is expressed as the distance traveled per unit of fuel, allowing one to determine the amount of fuel used over a specified journey. This rate is used to calculate fuel consumption by dividing the distance by the miles per gallon rating.

Unit Conversion

This concept involves ensuring that all measurements are expressed in compatible units so that rates and totals can be accurately calculated. It is essential in transforming distances traveled into quantities of fuel consumed using the appropriate conversion factors.

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