Automobiles Essay -- Essays Papers Cars Driving Environment

Automobiles The invention of the automobile in the early 20th century has had an adverse affect on our environment. Our society has used technology in order to advance the automobile to make it better and more efficient. The automobile industry knows what sells and they take advantage of that. With this growing technology to advance automobiles also comes flaws. The biggest and most obvious flaw is pollution. Because of pollution, we find ourselves asking the question of whether this technology has helped our society more than it has hurt it. Automobiles are the cause of 60 percent of our air pollution today (Dewees 214). There are four main sources in which pollution comes from an automobile. The first, on a hot day the sun will heat the gas tank of the car, this in turn causes vapors from the gasoline to leak from the fuel tank. Second, when the car is simply running the engine becomes hot and causes the engine and exhaust system to release gasoline vapors. Third, after a car is turned off and parked, gasoline vapors continue to be emitted because the engine is still hot from running. And lastly, when you go to the gas station to refill your gas tank vapors are forced out of the tank into the air. Before we look at some alternative process' to help reduce or eliminate automobile pollution, we should try to understand how this occurs. This form of pollution is a direct result of the combustion process, also known as exhaust, and from fuel being evaporated into the atmosphere. The next step is to get a better understanding of the combustion process. The gasoline that we use to put into our cars are made of a mixture of hydrocarbons, hydrogen and carbon atoms. When we put the gasoline into our car, what is supposed ... ...s, an alternative solution needs to be made. We need to stop looking at cost efficiency in this matter and decide what is more important, a healthy world to live in or a cheap way to drive. WORKS CITED "Alternatively Fueled Vehicles." Environmental Health Center. http://www.nsc.org/EHC/mobile/alternat.htm (10 Oct.2000). "Automobile Emissions: An Overview." http://www.epa.gov/OMSWWW/05-autos.htm (10 Oct.2000). "Car Exhaust-Health Effects." Enviromned. Research. http://www.nutramed.com/environment/carsepa.htm (12 Oct.2000). "City Life: Fixing the Car." Crawford Systems. http://www.carfree.com/lif_fxcar_qz.html (8 Oct.2000) "Exhaustion: A guide to Transportation Emissions." Environment Canada. http://www.ec.gc.ca/emission/l-le.html (14 Oct.2000). "Motor Vehicles and the 1990 Clean Air Act." htpp://www.epa.gov/omswww/11-vehs.htm (15 Oct.2000)