Which Method of Fueling Your Car Is Likely to Be

question 21

Multiple Choice

Which method of fueling your car is likely to be more energy efficient, and why: gasoline used in a standard car engine or electricity taken from a coal- fueled generating plant and stored in lightweight car batteries? Assume that the batteries convert electricity to work at 100% efficiency, and that electricity is transported from the power plant to the car at 100% efficiency.

• A) Gasoline used in a standard car engine, because a car engine burns its fuel directly in the automobile rather than miles away at the power plant.
• B) Electricity from a coal- fired generating plant, because such a plant runs at higher energy- efficiency than does a car engine.
• C) It wouldn't make any difference, because both the car engine and the generating plant are heat engines and are thus subject to the second law of thermodynamics.
• D) Electricity from a coal- fired generating plant, because a car engine is a heat engine, and must follow the second law of thermodynamics, whereas a coal- fired generating plant is not.
• E) Gasoline used in a standard car engine, because a car engine's fuel burns hotter and more efficiently than does the coal in a coal- fired power plant.

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