16
votes
Accepted
How did plants adapt to $\small\sf{CO_2}$ levels past 400k years? Why won't they do it again?
I'm not sure where and why has all CO2 gone every 100.000 years and out of where has CO2 come?
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere for the last 400000 years is very strongly correlated with ...
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13
votes
Can anyone explain the reason why CO$_2$ increases global temperatures (not the simplistic greenhouse analogy provided for public consumption)?
Borrowing an explanation from one of my other answers, the basic mechanism of the greenhouse effect is roughly as follows (note this is also a simplified model)
The Earth is in (to all intents and ...
- 1,959
12
votes
Accepted
Is it possible that a reduction in vegetation is a cause of global warming?
The short answer is that people do talk about it. It is commonly referred to as "land use change". In general, the carbon dioxide equivalent of the effects of land-use change is on the order of 10% ...
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11
votes
How many trees would I have to plant to solve Global Warming?
This question is from 2014 with answers from 2015. Just to add the point of view of some research that has been done since.
In essence, new calculations show that NCS (natural climate solutions: a ...
- 23.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Which percentage of $\text{CO}_2$ emissions are human made emissions?
First of all, the amount of carbon cycling trough the Earth's system is irrelevant to the discussion of the changes in atmospheric $\text{CO}_2$ concentration or ocean acidification. In the same way ...
- 17.6k
10
votes
Accepted
Did climate cool down when underground hydrocarbons stocks formed?
Possibly
One thing you have to understand is that natural carbon sequestration via the formation of fossil fuel is VERY slow, it can take millions of years to build up the coal we burn in a day. In ...
- 6,878
8
votes
Why did the carboniferous period have so much atmospheric oxygen?
The Carboniferous was when the growth of woody plants took off. Non-plant life had not yet evolved the ability to consume lignins, the key chemical components that makes woody plants "woody". Lignins ...
- 23.2k
7
votes
Are all natural diamonds made of organic carbon material?
Diamond isn't made of organic C at all. Organic matter would rather become oil, gas, coal or dissolve entirely.
C itself isn't very common in earth's mantle, but subducted eclogites and peridotites ...
- 467
7
votes
Is $\ce{CO_2}$ in photosynthesis the only way for carbon to become organic?
The answer is no. One important mechanism that also fixes carbon is chemosynthesis. One good example of this production is around hydrothermal vents in the bottom of the ocean.
Chemosynthesis is the ...
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6
votes
Why cannot people burn all the atmospheric oxygen?
Photosynthesis has not stopped. It happens all the time, splitting water and carbon dioxide, and producing oxygen and carbohydrates. Likewise, organic matter rots and decomposes all the time, ...
- 2,028
6
votes
Accepted
What is the relevance of Arctic coastal erosion to the Earth's climate?
If we consider only the climatic impacts of Arctic coastal erosion, there are still two sides of the question of how relevant is Arctic coastal erosion of permafrost.
The first side is how big is its ...
- 17.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Why did the carboniferous period have so much atmospheric oxygen?
To complement @DavidHammen answer and address the point "where did so much oxygen come from?" I will elaborate on David's final remark
The end result was a gradual increase in oxygen levels
The ...
- 17.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't Earth absorb our carbon emissions?
That assumption is indeed logical and correct, and increased plant growth is in fact happening (this effect is known as $\ce{CO2}$ fertilization). As you suggests, Earth will adapt to the increased ...
- 17.6k
5
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Are all natural diamonds made of organic carbon material?
Not so fast, we can't say that 'no diamond is made of organic carbon'. There are two types of diamond, based upon the relative abundance of $^{12}C$ and $^{13}C$ isotopes. The 'lighter' carbon (...
- 14.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Does organic decay release the same CO2 as burning?
I can't quantify the answer, but intuitively, nearly all of a burning tree's carbon is converted to $\small\mathsf{CO_2}$ - assuming the fire is hot enough. You are correct in assuming that termites ...
- 14.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Carbon's role in ocean acidification
In answering this complex question, I think it's important to consider the form of carbon that is utilized and the overall reactions involved (warning: somewhat lengthy diversion ahead, and advance ...
- 76
5
votes
If planting trees is ineffective to tackle climate change, why do people plant them?
Timber, shade, nuts, fruits, animal habitat, flowers, landscaping, erosion control, poles for electric power distribution, syrup, spices,coffee, and other things unrelated to global warming.
- 1,033
4
votes
Why cannot people burn all the atmospheric oxygen?
If I understand it right, you are assuming that in the beginning we had CO2, which was then split to organic carbon and O2 via photosynthesis. And now you are asking if it's possible to reverse all of ...
- 23.1k
4
votes
If planting trees is ineffective to tackle climate change, why do people plant them?
Planting trees has a short term benefit in carbon sequestration but will not offset the carbon from fossil fuel burning. However, in some places trees provide a benefit of increasing soil carbon which ...
- 4,429
4
votes
The effect of CO2 concentration on the pH of the ocean
Increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is leading to an increasing concentration of dissolved CO2 in sea-water. The dissolved CO2 then reacts with the water to create carbonic acid, decreasing ...
- 772
3
votes
Did climate cool down when underground hydrocarbons stocks formed?
The carboniferous period was 350-270 million years ago. The content of CO2 at that time was close to 3000 ppm, but this fell to 200-300 ppm by the end of this period. The average temperature of ...
- 1,868
3
votes
Does organic decay release the same CO2 as burning?
When a forest is used for sustainable fuel, there is a range of age classes in the forest, some old, some middle aged and so on. Wood harvest takes the oldest trees leaving young trees to take their ...
- 31
3
votes
Accepted
Will photosynthesis based carbon sequestration always be more efficient than other chemical means - in terms of rate?
Rate.. no.
Brute Force
We can treat this as an industrial chemistry question. The brute-force method for carbon sequesteration is simply:
Extract CO2 from the air (using the acid/base chemistry, ...
- 1,082
3
votes
Does organic decay release the same CO2 as burning?
The key word in your query is the word "essentially". Termites and bacteria die too. So whatever carbon was initially converted from the tree into termites or bacteria ends up mostly going to $\small\...
- 511
3
votes
Polar Ice caps are melting? Questions on enviromental impact
I think you misinterpret the article you cited. In the article it is stated that:
The melting of the polar ice-caps has
an effect "the equivalent of about 20 years of additional CO$_2$ being
...
- 53
3
votes
What is the distribution of global photosynthesis?
You are perhaps looking for primary production.
That is a measure for the total amount of biomass produced. Primary production is measured in two different ways, gross primary production, that is ...
3
votes
Are all natural diamonds made of organic carbon material?
But did plants and trees of 300 million years ago sink so deep?
300 million years ago (Carboniferous) was a time when large amount of organic carbon was buried to a depth of several kilometres and ...
- 23.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Estimating the residence time of atmospheric CO2 from bomb 14C
Judging by the general quality of the first graph, I don't think that it is the most reliable source. However as I don't feel like reading trough all papers, I will accept the numbers as they are ...
- 46
3
votes
How much net carbon can coral sequester?
Corals usually grow 1cm every year, some as slow as 2mm, some faster.
Coral sand density is about 1.5g /cm2, it's not the best estimate of coral weight. So, a coral organism of 10cm^2 produces 150 ...
- 1,339
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