Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

In combination, carbon is found as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the earth and dissolved in all natural waters. It is a component of great rock masses in the form of carbonates of calcium (limestone), magnesium, and iron. Coal, petroleum, and natural gas are chiefly hydrocarbons. 

The increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (even if its overall amount is only 0.035%) affects our global climate, although other... 

Both factors depend on the respective partial vapor pressures of water and carbon dioxide and upon the distance to the radiation source. The partial vapor pressure of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is fairly constant (30 Pa), but the partial vapor pressure of water varies with atmospheric relative humidity. Duiser (1989) published graphs plotting absorption factors (a) against the product of partial vapor pressure and distance to flame (Px) for flame temperatures ranging from 800 to 1800 K. 

FIGURE 9.15 A radar imago of the surface of Venus. Although the rocks are very hot, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is so great that carbonates may be abundant. 

Carbonic acid is an important natural component of the environment because it is formed whenever carbon dioxide dissolves in lake water or seawater. In fact, the oceans provide one of the critical mechanisms for maintaining a constant concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbonic acid takes part in two successive proton transfer equilibria ... 

Concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, over the past 1000 The average change in surface temperature of the Earth from 185S to... 

Ice ages ended quickly. Processes that promote the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are positive feedbacks in ending an ice age. Is subglacial chemical weathering a positive or a negative feedback What circumstances would allow one to give the opposite answer (Hint ... 

The significance of the carbon cycle has relatively recently become appreciated by scientists and non-scientists alike, due to the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Out of all of the cycles we present here, it is perhaps the easiest one to use as an example of how... 

The degree of temperature control depends on the amount of water and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The amount of H2O in the atmosphere is veiy low in desert regions, and the atmosphere is less dense at high altitude. Consequently, deserts and mountains experience more severe day-to-night temperature variations than regions that have higher humidity or are at lower altitude. 

Carbon dioxide does not affect the energy input to the planet because CO2 is transparent to most of the incoming solar radiation. In contrast, CO2 is extremely effective at absorbing infrared radiation, so the energy output from the planet decreases when the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases by even a small amount. 

Ceding, T.E. (1991) Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere evidence from Cenozoic and Mesozoic paleosols. Am. J. Sci., 291, 377 00. 

Chemical processes should be designed as part of a sustainable industrial activity that retains the capacity of ecosystems to support both life and industrial activity into the future. Sustainable industrial activity must meet the needs of the present, without compromising the needs of future generations. For chemical process design, this means that processes should use raw materials as efficiently as is economic and practicable, both to prevent the production of waste that can be environmentally harmful and to preserve the reserves of raw materials as much as possible. Processes should use as little energy as is economic and practicable, both to prevent the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and to preserve the reserves of fossil fuels. Water must also be consumed in... 

The chemistry of calcium oxide limits the lifetime of the limelight. Exposure at ordinary temperatures to water moisture and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere... 

Recent estimates indicate that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by a third since the beginning of the industrial age, and that it contributes significantly to global warming. Other major contributors include methane, tropospheric ozone, and nitrous oxide. Methane is the principal component of natural gas, but it is also produced by other sources such as rice paddies and farm animals. Tropospheric ozone is generated naturally and by the sunlight-... 

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has some influence on the composition of ores. The decay of organic matter can produce carbon dioxide, and it reacts with many metal oxides to produce metal carbonates. For example,... 

Significant economies of computation are possible in systems that consist of a one-dimensional chain of identical reservoirs. Chapter 7 describes such a system in which there is just one dependent variable. An illustrative example is the climate system and the calculation of zonally averaged temperature as a function of latitude in an energy balance climate model. In such a model, the surface temperature depends on the balance among solar radiation absorbed, planetary radiation emitted to space, and the transport of energy between latitudes. I present routines that calculate the absorption and reflection of incident solar radiation and the emission of long-wave planetary radiation. I show how much of the computational work can be avoided in a system like this because each reservoir is coupled only to its adjacent reservoirs. I use the simulation to explore the sensitivity of seasonally varying temperatures to such aspects of the climate system as snow and ice cover, cloud cover, amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and land distribution. 

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is proportional to the partial pressure. Thus if partial pressure is expressed in units of the present level, the amount will become 56 X 1015 pco2 moles, where pco2 is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide. Expressing the reservoir in units of 1015 moles and the exchange rate in 1015 moles/y, the equation for the time rate of change of carbon dioxide partial pressure, assuming no other sources or sinks, becomes... 

Let us first introduce some important definitions with the help of some simple mathematical concepts. Critical aspects of the evolution of a geological system, e.g., the mantle, the ocean, the Phanerozoic clastic sediments,..., can often be adequately described with a limited set of geochemical variables. These variables, which are typically concentrations, concentration ratios and isotope compositions, evolve in response to change in some parameters, such as the volume of continental crust or the release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We assume that one such variable, which we label/ is a function of time and other geochemical parameters. The rate of change in / per unit time can be written... 

When the earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, 95% of the atmosphere consisted of carbon dioxide. The emergence of plant life changed the atmosphere since plants, through the process of photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide. Carbon from the atmosphere was absorbed into the vegetation and when the vegetable matter died, it decomposed, and formed coal and oil. This dropped the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to less than 1%. 

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere then has been estimated to be many times greater than today. This explains how the earth s climate was warm enough for liquid water and the life that evolved from it about 4 billion years ago. As life on earth evolved, the solar output increased and photosynthetic organisms used much of this carbon dioxide. 

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is about 360 parts per million. Some believe this could increase another 200 to 600 ppm by the end of the century. It may have been over 300 ppm more than 400,000 years ago with lows around 200 ppm at 350,000, 200, 000 and 30,000 years ago. Between these lows were peaks of 250 to 270 ppm. 

Pumping the carbon dioxide produced at industrial plants into the deep ocean is another technique that could reduce and delay the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But, it would not prevent an eventual warming as some made its way back into the atmosphere. Reforestation could be used as a carbon bank to capture carbon from the atmosphere, but the decay or burning of harvested trees decades later would add some carbon. 

Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, believe that rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will acidify the ocean s surface waters in any case and pumping some of the carbon into the ocean depths could slow that process. 

The increased use of hydrocarbon fuels in the last five decades is slowly increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which produces more carbonic acid, leading to an imbalance in the natural carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere, which, in turn, leads to more acidity in the rain. In addition, there is a greenhouse effect, and the average temperature of the Earth may be increasing. 

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