How can 1 liter gasoline produce 2 kilogram CO2?

Question

Yesterday I was in a museum (Museon, Den Haag) where was said that 1 liter gasoline produces more then 2 kilogram CO2. Please explain this.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

In order for gasoline to produce CO2, it has to be burned, which is a chemical reaction, and gasoline is not the only ingredient in that chemical reaction.

It also takes oxygen molecules (O2) from the air, as all combustion reactions do. So the end products of that reaction are heavier than the gasoline that went in because they also include the weight from all those oxygen molecules.