WhyNot?

Greenhouse Gas

Category: Air
Responses: 2 (0 in support, 0 neutral, 2 in opposition)
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I was cleaning some concrete residue from some tiles using diluted hydrochloric acid the other day when my son asked what the bubbles were. I told him carbon dioxide.

I then occured to me that the effluent from smokestacks falls as acid rain, which would then react with carbonates in the soil and water to produce the same thing.

As carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas would the amount of gas produced in this way contribute significantly to the problem of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere? I'm just wondering . . .

Hyenuf, Nov 11 2005

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Under normal environmental conditions there is always a cycle of carbon dioxide into and out of the atmosphere. The problems causing global warming are involved with the released carbon from underground stores where for milleniums it has been safely captured as coal and oil and gases. This carbon dioxide is in addition to the normal circulation which is necessary for life processes and energy transfers and which can, at extreme concentration, turn the Earth into a duplicate of Venus where the ground temperature is about 500 degrees fahrenheit.

sand, Nov 11 2005

A little alarmist don't you think, Sand? Earth is not going to become Venus during any measurable amount of time. Given that humans are organic, our output is necessary for life processes and the Earth can take care of herself.

whynot@my.st, Nov 13 2005

Of course it's alarmist and was so intended. We won't get to be Venus for a good while but even a rise of a few degrees can cause an increase in the energy of the oceans to increase the intensity of hurricanes. And those lands now fertile and producing food and fiber can become deserts in a geologically very short time. I fail to understand your confidence in the "Earth taking care of itself". It is of no interest to the Earth whether it sustains life or not as it is not a conscious and caring entity. And considering the havoc mankind is wreaking on the environment I am rather grateful it is not aware of mankind's activities.

sand, Nov 13 2005

The amount of carbon in the atmosphere has historically been decreasing over the past several million years, with spiking due to volcanic activity. Only in the last 100 years has it been climbing up. Most of the Earth's Oxygen is stored as an iron/oxygen compound. If you really wanted to boost the oxygen and reduce the carbon concentrations, release more oxygen bound with the iron, promote more plantlife diversity, promote more plankton growth.
http://www.science.siu.edu/microbiology/micr425/425Notes/14-OriginLife.html

However, increase Oxygen concentration and you automatically increase the verility of insects. Raise the oxygen concentration from the current 21% to 30% and you will start seeing beetles, roaches, and other insects twice their present size. They breath through their shells, not lungs. See Discovery Channel episode related to this topic.


Junk, the issue is too much CO2, not too little O2. Lowering the concentration of CO2 by increasing the percentage Of O2 will not reduce the greenhouse effect.

Dwane Anderson, Jan 17 2007

No duh are you logical. Not many people clean concrete in the first place and these chemicals you are talking about don't give as much impact. There are even worse causes of this problem such as smokestacks and you shouldn't ask unreasonable questions think before you ask.

Gotoe12, May 12 2008

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