Problems With Gasoline
遗传算法soline has two problems when burned in car engines. The first problem has to do with smog and ozone in big cities. The second problem has to do with carbon and温室气体.
When cars burn gasoline, they would ideally burn it perfectly and create nothing but carbon dioxide and water in theirexhaust. Unfortunately, theinternal combustion engineis not perfect. In the process of burning the gasoline, it also produces:
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- Carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas
- Nitrogen oxides, the main source of urbansmog
- Unburned hydrocarbons, the main source of urbanozone
Catalytic converterseliminate much of this pollution, but they aren't perfect either. Air pollution from cars and power plants is a real problem in big cities.
Carbon is also a problem. When it burns, it turns into lots of carbon dioxide gas. Gasoline is mostly carbon by weight, so a gallon of gas might release 5 to 6 pounds (2.5 kg) of carbon into the atmosphere. The U.S. is releasing roughly 2 billion pounds of carbon into the atmosphere each day.
If it were solid carbon, it would be extremely noticeable -- it would be like throwing a 5-pound bag ofsugarout the window of yourcarfor every gallon of gas burned. But because the 5 pounds of carbon comes out as an invisible gas (carbon dioxide), most of us are oblivious to it. The carbon dioxide coming out of every car's tailpipe is agreenhouse gas. The ultimate effects are unknown, but it is a strong possibility that, eventually, there will be dramatic climate changes that affect everyone on theplanet(for example,sea levels may rise,floodingor destroying coastal cities). For this reason, there are growing efforts to replace gasoline with hydrogen. SeeHow the Hydrogen Economy Worksfor details.