Carolina Earth Lab - Manual (Page 5)

2. Note these figures when a parent
or other adult fills the gas tank the
next time, or ask to be pro-
vided with the data.
3. Calculate the average
amount of gas your car
uses per mile (gallons
divided by the cor-
responding number
of miles), and what
the fuel consumption is
per 100 miles (consumption per mile
multiplied by 100).
Explanation:
If your car uses around 4 or 5 gallons
per 100 miles,
that would be
about average
these days. Still,
if you burn a
gallon of gas
it creates a
little under 9
kilograms (20
pounds) of cli-
mate-damaging
carbon dioxide gas. In the future,
cars might be taxed according to the
average quantity in weight of carbon
dioxide that they emit per kilometer.
This should be as far under 200 grams
of carbon dioxide per mile as possible.
09
Experiment
Expensive dripping
faucet
Every American consumes, on aver-
age, well over a hundred gallons of
water a day. In Europe, the average
consumption is a little over one third
of that. It’s important not to waste
drinking water, especially due to
wastefully running or dripping water
taps.
You will need: measuring cup, watch,
pencil, paper.
Procedure:
1. Open a faucet just
enough for the water to
drip slowly.
2. Place the empty mea-
suring cup beneath it and
note the time.
3. Check on the experi-
ment from time to time.
Once the measuring cup is
almost full, note the time
again. Look at the scale
on the side of the cup to see how
much water is in it.
4. Turn off the tap.
5. Calculate how much water per hour
dripped out of the faucet, and how
much it would be if it dripped like
that for a week.
Explanation:
If even just 1 liter drips out per hour,
that’s 24 liters a day, or almost 9,000
liters — over 2,300 gallons — a year!
Even if we had
plenty of water to
waste, purifica-
tion and distri-
bution of water
require energy
too.
Filling station gas pump
with a variety of fuels
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