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by Symbiote 1205 days ago
The additional mass comes from oxygen from the air used to burn the fuel.

Burn 1g of coal, to make it easy:

  C + O₂ → CO₂
Carbon has molecular mass 12g/mole (carbon has atomic weight ~12), carbon dioxide 44g/mole (12 + 2×16).

So burning 1g of carbon produces 3.67g of CO₂.

1 comments

Ah thanks, that does indeed line up the numbers I had misunderstood.