J.+Brock+and+D.+Thibault+Energy+Wiki

GASOLINE

1. What is the problem at hand? There are two problems at hand with gasoline. The first problem has to do with smog and ozone in big cities. The second problem has to do with carbon and greenhouse gases. If everything worked out, gasoline would burn and only produce carbon dioxide and water. But, because it is not perfect it produces carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons. To get rid of some of these pollutions there are catalytic converters. But these don't get rid of 100% of all the air pollution from cars and power plants. Another problem is the carbon inside the gas. When burned, it is decomposed into carbon dioxide.

2. What is the driving force of the problem? The driving force of the problem is the exessive amout of gasoline used in people's cars and the pollution that is the result of burning all this gas. Everything from oil spills to ozone alerts to global warming, gets blamed on our reliance on fossil fuels. Gas is mostly carbon, so when burned it releases up to 6 pounds are carbon into the air. The effects of this are unknown at the moment but it is possible that there will be drastic climate changes caused by it.

3. What are poeple currently doing or not doing to solve the problem? People today are making growing efforts to replace gasoline with hydrogen. Recently, there has been problems with petroleum. These two forces are leading us to the hydrogen economy. If predictions are accurate we will see a shift in our dependence on fossil fuels, to a much cleaner hydrogen future. The advantages of a hydrogen economy are so significant that the push towards it is great.

4. **Explain how it works. THIS IS A BIG ONE!** There are four main advantages to a hydrogen economy. First being, the elimination of pollution caused by fossil fuels. This happens when hydrogen is used in a fuel cell to create power, it a completely clean technology. The only product from this is water. There are also no environmental hazards to worry about like oil spills. The second advantage is the elimination of greenhouse gases. Hydrogen adds no greenhouse gases to the environment because it comes from the electrolysis of water. It is a perfect cycle, hydrogen is produced from the electrolysis of water, hydrogen recombines with oxygen to create water and power in a fuel cell. The third advantage is the elimination of economic dependence. Basically this just means that we don't need to rely on the Middle East anymore for oil. The fourth advantage is distributed production. Hydrogen is able to be produced anywhere you have water and electricity; people are even able to produce it in their homes. The problems with using fossil fuel are so great, and the advantage of a hydrogen economy so great, that there is a strong push towards a hydrogen economy.

5. determine the amount of CO2 it produces or inhibits It's hard to believe that one gallon of gasoline can produce 19 pounds of carbon dioxide when burned. most of the weight of the CO2 does not come from the oxygen itself, but from the air. When gasoline burns, the carbon and hydrogen separate.The hydrogen combines with oxygen to make water, H2O, and the carbon combines with oxygen to make carbon dioxide, CO2. A carbon atom has a weight of 12, and an oxygen atom has a weight of 16, which means one atom of carbon dioxide has a weight of 44. an atom of carbon dioxide looks like this:

If carbon dioxide has a weight of 44, then carbon has a weight of 12 in the molecule, and oxygen has a weight of 32. So to calculate the weight of carbon dioxide produced from a gallon of gasoline you would multiply the weight of the carbon in the 6 pounds, or 1 gallon, of gasoline by 44/12, or 3.7 and you get 19 for an answer.

6. determine the amount of water it can generate or purify

7. highlight the best aspects of it The best aspects of gasoline is how well it works in our cars today. Everything else about it sucks.

8. describe how the critics would discuss it/ Try to include quotes from scientists or policy makers. When gasoline and rubber are rationed, electric power and transport facilities are becoming increasingly scarce, and manpower shortages are developing, it is difficult for people to understand their increased use for other than the most vital needs of war. William L. M. King

This morning, prompted by increasing concerns about terrorism, oil prices reached a record high as the cost of a barrel of crude is a whopping $44.34. Wow, it seems shocking that a product of finite supply gets more expensive the more we use it. Now the terror alert means higher oil prices, which oddly enough means higher profits for oil companies giving them more money to give to politicians whose policies may favor the oil companies such as raising the terror alert level. As Simba once told us: "It's the circle of life." ~Jon Stewart

9. If it already makes up a lot of the world's fuel/energy supply explailn why.

10. Explain how it could help solve some of the problems or contributes to those problems.

11. Explalin what it would take to do your thing better or in a larger scale.

12. Explain who uses that technology and why. If it isn't used very much explain that instead.

13. After learning about it what would you do next to change how its used? why?

http://science.howstuffworks.com/gasoline5.htm