I've heard that the concentration of CO2 has been increased in the air.
It should have increased atmospheric pressure, right?
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$\begingroup$ CO2 also dissolves in water causing other problems. $\endgroup$– onepoundCommented Nov 1, 2021 at 9:55
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$\begingroup$ yes but it's a natural process by photosynthesis (phytoplankton and algae). They emit O2 as well. $\endgroup$– ChandraKumarCommented Nov 1, 2021 at 11:11
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$\begingroup$ unfortunately the acid increase due to CO2 is quicker destructive than natural processes by photosynthesis can compensate see gbrmpa.gov.au/our-work/threats-to-the-reef/climate-change/… $\endgroup$– onepoundCommented Nov 1, 2021 at 11:18
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1$\begingroup$ I suppose the atmosphere is not constrained like a bottle wall so just increasing the amount of gas would maybe not follow directly Boyle's law even if there was not chemical and biological interaction going on. It is an interesting question. There is a similar question only the volume of the PVT is considered here: earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/14489/… $\endgroup$– onepoundCommented Nov 1, 2021 at 14:51
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1$\begingroup$ Short and correct answer (apart from everything else in this thread): The amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere is insignificant for the total atmospheric mass, but not negligible for its infrared opacity (CO2 has a very high infrared opacity per unit mass compared to the average atmosphere). $\endgroup$– AtmosphericPrisonEscapeCommented Nov 2, 2021 at 20:43
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2 Answers
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The Earth's atmosphere has a mass of about 5.15×10^18 kg or 5.15 Quadrillion Metric tons, CO2 human outputs since start of the Industrial revolution amount to 654 billion tons, or 1/7,800 th of it's overall mass. Also CO2 emissions came from consuming existing atmospheric oxygen. The Carbon that was added using stoichiometric calculations; Only 27% of CO2's mass is carbon so of the 654 Billion tons of CO2 added since 1850's, only 176.58 billion tons came from added Carbon or 1/29,000th the the Atmospheric mass. Not enough to do anything to adjust overall atmospheric pressure.
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We have issued around 200 ppm of CO2. That means 0,02 % of the atmosphere.
Furthermore the combustion reaction consumes O2. Also part of the CO2 dissolves in the ocean because of Henry's law.
The variation of atmospheric pressure due to industrial activity is negligible, much less than 0,02%.
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$\begingroup$ Time-dependent processes like combustion and dissolution cannot be part of the answer, as the $\rm CO_2$ partial pressure at any given moment is given by its number at that moment. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 20:39