co2 in the atmosphere

[claymore]

A report in one of the daily papers states that nearly 10 billion tonnes of co2 was released into the atmosphere this year. Got me thinking , how much space would this amount of gas take up and where does it go , does it mix with the air we breathe, does atmospheric pressure increase or does most of it get absorbed by trees, ocean etc?

[peanut273]

Trees and green plants need carbon dioixde to live, as there is sooo much of it being released into the air & due to deforrestation I think it contrabutes to the green house gases! I dont think its a problem concerning how much space it would take up in the atmosphere, more an issue of the large volume that is going into our air.

The air we breathe in is approx 70% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen & the others will be your CO2, Nitrogen, Hydrogen etc.

I dont really think the ocean absorbs the CO2!

[gen2]

Before humans started burning fossil fuels, there was almost an exact balance between the CO2 entering the atmosphere and the CO2 removed from the atmosphere.

CO2 is removed by green plants for photosynthesis.
CO2 is also soluble so it dissolves in rain and ends up in rivers, lakes and the oceans.

Current imbalance is due to both the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by over 35% in the last 300 years and it is now 0.036% of the atmosphere.

Finally, every ton of CO2 occupies 556.2m�
(that's roughly a house-full)

[interele]

In the grand scheme of things the CO2 in the atmosphere is pretty low at the moment if you go back far enough there have been periods with about 20 time the CO2

Here is a great quote "Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together" The Independent

I am old enough to remember being told there was an ice age coming and we should cover the ice caps in soot to warm the planet.

Now there is another band of merry scientists that are saying that decreased sun activity will cause an ice age again

The only thing I believe here is that the climate changes.

;-)

M

[beso]

Half the increase in CO2 has occurred since 1975.

Methane produced by livestock is also a problem. The fact that it is bigger than some of the CO2 sources does not make the CO2 any less of a problem. Scientists are also working on the methane problem.

When the CO2 reaches 400ppm a strong positive feedback mechanism is likely to form where it will accelerate beyond any hope of control.

Before the effect of higher carbon dioxide levels was understood some scientists had noted that if the previous pattern of ice ages repeated we are just about due for a return to an iceage.

Now climate scient has advanced enormously through greater understanding and the availabilty of powerful computers the overwhelming majority of scientists are quite certain that that climate change is a huge problem.

The sceptics are so hooked on fossil fuel that they refuse to believe there is a problem. The same type of denial is common in drug addicts.

[jake-the-peg]

I notice interle quotes that authoratative source of scientific knowledge - the daily newspapers!

So no chance that that could be wrong, or taken out of context then.

Actually this probably explains why (s)he's so hooked on that old "ice age" stuff.

Guess what I'm ol;d enough to remember it too. Thing is I remember it a bit better. I remember that it was work from a couple of scientists on rather shakey evidence that got picked up by loads of newspapers (Interele's source of climate science you remember).

Compare that with the problem today - Even President Bush has acknowledged that global warming is real and "almost certainly" man made.

And if a republican Oil Man is saying that - well time to give it up!