41
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Accepted
How does global-warming-triggered ice melting cause global sea levels to rise?
Arctic ice, around the north pole floats on top of water. When it melts it does not add to sea level rises and likewise for other ice on water, as illustrated in this video and this video.
Ice on land ...
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14
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How does global-warming-triggered ice melting cause global sea levels to rise?
Because a lot of that ice is currently sitting on land. When it melts, it will go into the ocean. From the National Snow and Ice Data Center Page (NSIDC), Facts about glaciers:
Presently, 10 percent ...
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7
votes
Accepted
Why don't we feed the plastics to the termites?
Many animals can eat through plastic to get to what they really want to eat. Among them: termites, mice and myself when battling against a candy wrapper. However, as far as I understand, none of them ...
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6
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Are plastics a carbon sink and how much carbon is released to the atmosphere making them?
The idea of a carbon sink is a bit misunderstood here. The idea of a carbon sink is a reduction of carbon that comes from the atmosphere. It must “fix” carbon that is already in the air. Trees are a ...
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5
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Accepted
Which geological processes will destroy plastic?
Some simplifying assumptions
This is quite a broad and complex question to answer, so I'm going to simplify it shamelessly to make it a little more answerable.
Firstly, there are a huge number of ...
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How does global-warming-triggered ice melting cause global sea levels to rise?
Your question mixes a few independent issues. Two of the statements are undisputed:
Yes, melt water has a smaller volume than the ice from which it comes. But obviously, that (smaller) volume of melt ...
3
votes
How does global-warming-triggered ice melting cause global sea levels to rise?
Loss of ice mass floating in oceans has negligible contribution to sea level rise. Loss of ice mass over land does contribute to sea level rise.
It is the net balance (the difference) between flow of ...
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How much plastic settles to the bottom of the oceans each year?
About 18.2 million tons sink to the ocean floor.
Every year, an astonishing 260 million tons of plastic waste is produced, and about 10% of it ends up in the ocean. Over time, roughly 70% of the ...
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3
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Are plastics a carbon sink and how much carbon is released to the atmosphere making them?
Plastic is a much less efficient carbon sink than the original crude oil if it had been left in the ground or any natural method for storing carbon such as peat bogs. It is still technically a carbon ...
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Are plastics a carbon sink and how much carbon is released to the atmosphere making them?
Most plastics are made from the already-sunk carbon of crude oil or natural gas, and as a result, can be at best carbon neutral. However, bioplastics such as cellulose acetate or polylactic acid are ...
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2
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Result of floating-iron-balls in the mid-pacific?
I take it that your iron balls are hollow and made of rust resistant steel. It would be a fiendishly expensive project, but I doubt it would have the result you suggest. The iron balls would have to ...
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Are microplastics harmful or just the chemicals on them?
RE: "we can let them continue to break down without harm", obviously not. Especially in fluids that should have a specific composition in order to fulfil their function and also to be able ...
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How does global-warming-triggered ice melting cause global sea levels to rise?
A few of us here have given eminently reasonable answers already, but I think I know where your confusion comes from. The argument "ice is less dense than water hence it must result in less ...
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How does global-warming-triggered ice melting cause global sea levels to rise?
Thermal expansion of the ocean is responsible for about half the sea level rise:
First, warmer water expands, and this "thermal expansion" of the ocean has contributed about half of the 2.8 ...
1
vote
Why don't we feed the plastics to the termites?
The enzymes from maggots bred on plastic allowed ground up larva paste to also digest. I believe they were able to isolate and synthetically generate the enzymes.
Seemed like they can really just ...
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