What is the chemical make up of the stuff that comes out of the car's exhaust pipe? Is it CO or CO2 or someth

or something else?


What component is the greenhouse gas that is hurting the ozone and causing poor air quality and global warming?What is the chemical make up of the stuff that comes out of the car's exhaust pipe? Is it CO or CO2 or someth
First of all, ozone depletion and global warming are two totally different things. The only thing they have in common is that they are both attributed to pollution. I cannot understand why so many people confuse them.


CO2 and CO are both produced by cars, but modern ones have catalytic converters that convert CO to CO2, meaning that the latter is the main exhaust gas, (apart from steam). CO2 is a greenhouse gas that reduces the capacity of the atmosphere to radiate heat into space as IR radiation. This is because CO2 absorbs IR and converts it into thermal motion. Still, better than CO, which is incredibly poisonous.


Ozone depletion is brought about by chlorine radicals which are formed when certain chlorinated organic molecules released into the atmosphere are decomposed by UV light. These compounds are the CFCs that used to be used in aerosol sprays and refrigerators.What is the chemical make up of the stuff that comes out of the car's exhaust pipe? Is it CO or CO2 or someth
Mostly CO2 and water.





The rest of it below, constitute very small amounts -- most of it is broken down by the catalytic converter:





1. Carbon monoxide in small amounts.





2. There are small amounts unburned hydrocarbons (octane, heptane, propane, butane, ethane, and methane partially broke down by combustion).





3. There are also nitrogen/oxygen compounds that form in the high heat of combustion. Nitrous oxide, Nitric oxide, etc.


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The nitrogen-oxygen compounds and CO2 are the main greenhouse gasses. The unburned hydrocarbons, NO2, and CO cause poor air quality.





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It's actually quite a few gases: CO2 is the major one, a product of complete combustion of fuel (causes the greenhouse effect), CO (if there's inccomplete combustion, but it is mostly taken care of by the catalyst) and the second major product is water. Depending on fuel quality it could also be NOx (mixed nitrogen oxides, which cause smog and can produce ozone by reacting with oxygen in the air), SOx (sulfur oxides, mostly from the old diesel motors, although new laws should reduce it significantly), and also unburned hydrocarbons, the constituents of fuel.