blabth

When a vehicle consumes one litre of gasoline, it emits about 2.37 kilograms of CO2. If diesel has been refuelled, it is 2.65 kilograms of CO2. This may seem confusing, but in the end everything goes back to chemistry. Gasoline is a mixture and consists of many hydrocarbon chains. When driving, the gasoline in the engine is burned and the carbon (C) reacts with the oxygen (O2) from the air. One atom at a time combines with two oxygen atoms to form a carbon dioxide molecule (CO2). Simply put, light hydrogen atoms (atomic mass 1) from the hydrocarbons are exchanged for heavier oxygen atoms (atomic mass 16). The hydrogen atoms (H) in turn combine with oxygen to form water (H2O). The different CO2 emissions of gasoline and diesel are also explained by the chemistry: Gasoline contains slightly less carbon than diesel, and so it binds less oxygen.