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How much oil is required to heat the air over Los Angeles by 2C?

(Facts quickly googled)

Area of Los Angeles: 1.29 * 10⁹ m²

Height of air column over city: say 1000m

Volume of air = 1.29 * 10¹² m³

Mass of air (density 1.29 g/l) = 1.66 * 10¹² kg

Energy of air (700 J/kg for each C) = 2.32 * 10¹⁵ J

Equivalent number of barrels of oil (6.1 * 10⁹ J) = 380327 ~= 0.4 * 10⁶

Daily consumption in all of california: 1.8*10⁶ barrels

If the calculations are right, you would have to burn around 20% of California's daily consumption inside the city to raise the air temperature by 2C.



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