A car manufacturer is deciding whether to make car bodies from steel or from aluminium. Aluminium car bodies are lighter, so the car uses less fuel.
The table shows data from a life cycle assessment for one car body.
| Stage | Steel car body | Aluminium car body |
|---|---|---|
| energy to obtain raw materials / GJ | 20 | 45 |
| energy to manufacture car body / GJ | 8 | 10 |
| fuel used by the car in its lifetime / litres | 15 000 | 13 500 |
| percentage of metal recycled at end of life | 90 | 95 |
Give the stage of the life cycle assessment in which the fuel used by the car is counted.
Calculate how much more energy is needed to obtain the raw materials and manufacture the aluminium car body than the steel car body.
Calculate how many fewer litres of fuel the aluminium car uses in its lifetime.
Each litre of fuel releases 35 MJ of energy when burned. Calculate the energy saved during the lifetime of the aluminium car. Give your answer in GJ. 1 GJ = 1000 MJ
Evaluate whether the manufacturer should make car bodies from steel or from aluminium. Use the data in the table and your answers to (b) and (d).
45 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Chemistry 5.1 Obtaining and using metals, covering 5.1.1 The reactivity series of metals, 5.1.2 Displacement reactions as redox reactions, 5.1.3 Extracting metals from ores by reduction, 5.1.4 Biological methods of metal extraction, 5.1.5 Resistance to oxidation and recycling metals, and 5.1.6 Life cycle assessment. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.