Question

I’m looking at the butter package as I have my breakfast. It says that a 1 tbsp serving weighs 14 g and has 100 Calories of energy content. You are to estimate the energy content “per gallon of butter” and compare it to another hydrocarbon fuel…namely gasoline. Gas has combustion energy content of about 10 kWh per liter. Use the common unit of kWh per gallon as your comparison unit. Which is more energy rich?

Answer 1

As,   1 tbsp   =    0.003906 gallon = 100 calories

=>   1 gallon of butter =   100/0.003906   =   25601.638 calories

Gas has combustion energy content of about 10 kWh per liter

So, Gas has combustion energy content = 8604206.5 Calories per liter

                                                                   = 8604206.5/0.264 calories per gallon

                                                                   = 32591691.29   calories per gallon

Thus, gasoline is more energy rich .