# Problem: Ethanol, C2H5OH, is used as a fuel for motor vehicles, particularly in Brazil.Assuming that an automobile’s mileage is directly proportional to the heat of combustion of the fuel, calculate how much farther an automobile could be expected to travel on 1 L of gasoline than on 1 L of ethanol. Assume that gasoline has the heat of combustion and the density of n–octane, C8H18 (ΔH°f = −208.4 kJ/mol; density = 0.7025 g/mL).

###### FREE Expert Solution

Since the question stated that the mileage is directly proportional to the heat of combustion of the fuel, we can make a direct comparison of the energy they produce per liter.

We don't have the ΔH°rxn for both combustion reactions of the 2 types of fuels so we have to compute that manually using ΔH°values

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###### Problem Details

Ethanol, C2H5OH, is used as a fuel for motor vehicles, particularly in Brazil.

Assuming that an automobile’s mileage is directly proportional to the heat of combustion of the fuel, calculate how much farther an automobile could be expected to travel on 1 L of gasoline than on 1 L of ethanol. Assume that gasoline has the heat of combustion and the density of n–octane, C8H18 (ΔH°f = −208.4 kJ/mol; density = 0.7025 g/mL).