Do motorcycles or cars cause more pollution?

Answer 1

Short Answer:Overall motorcycles cause much more pollution than cars. They produce substantially more air pollutants than cars do when it comes to hydrocarbons, particulates, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. They produce less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, than cars do but only about 30-60% less. Motorcycles are much louder than cars are so they create much more noise pollution per vehicle. In addition motorcycles can only carry up to two passengers while a car can carry up to five or six passengers so if you are car pooling than you can carry two to three times as many people as motorcycles can per car with about the same amount of pollution which, when you divide the pollution into per person, means two to three times more pollution per person on the motorcycle. More detail:I'm not sure what type of pollution your talking about so I'll split my answer up into Air Pollution in terms of smog, Air Pollution in terms of greenhouse gases, and Noise Pollution. For each of these I'll split my answer up into the total pollution, Pollution per vehicle, and pollution per person being driven in the vehicle.

Air Pollution (Smog) - Motorcycles

Smog is from vehicles is caused by the the burning of fuel which creating chemicals such as nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide.

Total Pollution (Smog) - Cars

If your talking about total pollution then cars cause far more pollution than motorcycles because their are substantially more of them on the road. (590 million cars vs 200 million motorcycles)

Pollution Per Vehicle (Smog) - Motorcycles

If your talking about the amount of pollution per vehicle then motorcycles cause more pollution than cars. Motorcycles extract much more energy from fuel than cars do which creates much greater amounts of smog forming chemicals. Additionally because motorcycles are smaller they often don't carry technologies to reduce emissions such as catalytic converters which convert carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides into carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water.

Pollution Per Person in Vehicle (Smog) - Motorcycles

If your talking about the amount of pollution per person in the vehicle than it's Motorcycles because motorcycles create more smog per vehicle than cars and a car can carry more people than motorcycles.

Air Pollution (Greenhouse Gases) - Cars

Greenhouse Gases are a form of pollution which lead to climate change. The majority of the greenhouse gases produced by vehicles are in the form of Carbon Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide is created by the burning of gasoline in the vehicles engine and released through the exhaust.

Total Pollution (Greenhouse Gases) - Cars

If your talking about total pollution then cars cause far more pollution than motorcycles because their are substantially more of them on the road.

Pollution Per Vehicle (Greenhouse Gases) - Cars

If your talking about the amount of pollution per vehicle then cars cause more pollution than motorcycles because cars weigh substantially more than motorcycles and they convert fuel into energy much less efficiently so they have to burn much more fuel to move the same distance. The burning of fuel creates carbon dioxide which is the major greenhouse gas produced by vehicles.

Pollution Per Person in Vehicle (Greenhouse Gases) - Cars or Motorcycles

If your talking about the amount of pollution per person in the vehicle than it's either motorcycles or cars depending on the fuel efficiency and number of passengers. Motorcycles and Cars are about even in Carbon Dioxide created when their are twice as many people in the car than the motorcycle. (ie. Two people in the car, one on the motorcycle) If the car is carrying more than twice as many people as are on the motorcycle than the car creates less pollution per person but if the car is carrying less than twice as many people as are on the motorcycle than the car creates more pollution per person.

(ex. A car that gets 30mpg driving 3 people 300 miles would burn about 10 gallons of fuel which is only about 3.3 gallons per person, while a motorcycle that gets 60mpg driving driving 1 person 300 miles would burn 5 gallons of fuel which is 5 gallons of fuel per person.)

Noise Pollution -

Total Pollution - Cars

If your talking about total noise pollution than cars cause far more noise pollution since their are substantially more of them on the road.

Pollution Per Vehicle - Motorcycles

If your talking about noise pollution per vehicle than motorcycles cause much more noise pollution than cars because they are much louder.

Pollution Per Person in Vehicle - Motorcycles

If your talking about noise pollution per person in the vehicle than motorcycles cause much more noise pollution than cars because they are much louder can't carry as many people as cars.

Answer 2

yes a car causes more pollution than a plan because if you are travelling far away then you have to put a lot of petrol in, but if you are on a plane they do not put as much petrol in.