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	To-do list for Carbon dioxide:	edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
Here are some tasks you can do: Verify: Verify disputed claims and statistics Cleanup: More and better references (more print references needed) Use a consistent style of referencing (inline seems the best) Tidy up external links Expand: On other planets (e.g. Venus) More on plants (Mainly their carbon fixation e.g. CAM, C4 plants) More on past levels of CO2 and how they changed (e.g. earth's early atmosphere, the role of cyanobacteria) Write a full lead section when finished (~3 paragraphs) Other: Create new article on atmospheric carbon dioxide?

Archives Archive 1

Contents 1 Nothing on producing CO2 2 Paleo history of CO2 3 What's the deal with subscript notation? 4 CO2-only greenhouse 5 Indonesian peat fires... 6 Merge from dry ice 7 Question 8 PaCO2 Mention? 9 Carbonic acid from CO2 10 refrigeration 11 = Question about capturing CO2 11.1 How to measure carbon dioxide 11.2 organic or inorganic 11.3 High concentrations of CO2 poisonous? 11.4 Is plant biomass in the northern hemisphere really responsible? 11.5 % of CO2 in atmosphere error ? 11.6 Available Fraction error? 11.7 What?! 11.8 poor wording 11.9 ppm vs µL/L 11.10 Dry Ice Bombs 11.11 Percent of man made CO2 11.12 Wierd formattting error 11.13 Rise in temperature due to CO2? 11.14 Proposed split into Atmospheric carbon dioxide 11.15 Some Cleanup 11.16 Greenhouse Gas 11.17 Possible alternative atomic structure 11.18 Deleted text about how much CO2 is in the rocks

[edit] Nothing on producing CO₂

How is CO₂ made commercially for softdrinks? Dry ice? Other uses? Is it separated from air cyrogenically? Is it made chemically?68.5.64.178 00:39, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

indeed, it is produces from air separation plants, nowadays.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sikkema (talk • contribs).

Sikkema 23:21, 14 January 2007 (UTC) I stand corrected; although some is isolated from air, most is prepared sythetically, either by burning of fuels, and purification of the flue gases, or as a byproduct in industrial processes. An example is the neutralization of waste sulfuric acid, using chalk:

H₂SO₄ + CaCO₃ -> "H₂CO₃" + CaSO₄

Beer production at large breweries make excess amounts of CO₂ which is free from unhealthy contamination and used to make softdrinks.

[edit] Paleo history of CO₂

The page currently gives this source for a graph showing CO₂ in the distant past: http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/PageMill_Images/image277.gif It's schematic, and the temp curve is substantially incorrect. I suggest changing it to Royer et al (2004). http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-document&doi=10.1130%2F1052-5173(2004)014%3C4:CAAPDO%3E2.0.CO%3B, Fig 1. I'll do this if no-one objects :) Tom Rees Tomrees 16:24, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] What's the deal with subscript notation?

The two ways to format subscripts (and superscripts) render identically in my browser (Opera 7.54). So what is the "best" format: '''CO{{subst:sub|2}}''' CO₂ or '''CO<sub >2</sub >''' CO₂ and why? The former requires fewer keystrokes, although I'm more used to the HTML form. Vsmith 19:33, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The former form {{subst:sub|2}} uses a template and results in identical HTML as ₂ being sent to your browser, hence they would never look any different. Templates live in the template namespace and can be accessed by going to Template:template_name, i.e. Template:sub. The advantage of using templates such a {{stub}} is that it will take whatever text is on the page Template:stub and insert it into all pages including the tag: "{{stub}}". You can also pass parameters to templates to customize them. In the Sub example, the "2" is the parameter being passed to the Template.

Templates can be used in two ways either {{template}} or {{subst:template}}. The subst: in the second form tells the wiki to immediately substitute the entire current text of template into the page (i.e. {{subst:sub|2}} becomes ₂ even in the edit window). The form without the subst: causes the text to inserted only when the page is loaded, i.e. wikipedia looks up the current form of template each time the page is viewed. This has the advantage that changing the text at Template:template can immediately change what is presented in all places it occurs.

The drawback is that looking up {{template}} each time a page is loaded increases server load. For this reason, some people feel that for things like subscripting, which are both pervasive and unlikely to change, that {{subst:sub|2}} should never be used, and only {{subst:sub|2}} or ₂ should be used. After all, each of these produces identical code for the browser. I assume this is why Cburnett replaced the templates. As far as I know, there is no hard and fast policy on this. Dragons flight 22:27, Apr 16, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks! Now will I remember all that? Guess I'd best apply it soon. :-) Vsmith 23:46, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Yes, that's why I did it. There's no real need to force subscripts and superscripts to use a template other than ease of editting (I've actually posed an enhancement that would make it easier by doing 4^^th^^ or 4\\th\\ for superscript and CO^^^2^^^ or CO//2// for subscript) since the sub and sup HTML tags will probably never change in HTML. Using templates for such only serves to increase server load... Cburnett 00:26, Apr 17, 2005 (UTC)

Another solution is Unicode. The superscripts are 0x207x and the subscripts 0x208x, as in CO₂. —BenFrantzDale 13:55, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] CO₂-only greenhouse

Is it meaningful to discuss the greenhouse effect of a single atmospheric component, as if that could be divorced from the effects of other atmospheric components? If the IR absorption spectra of, say, CO₂ and water overlap at all, then the effect of adding more carbon dioxide will depend on how much water vapor is already in the air. And even if they don't overlap, then the amount of outgoing radiation absorbed by one component depends on the spectrum of the outgoing radiation, which depends on the temperature of the radiation source, which depends on the strength of the greenhouse effect of all the other components.

It seems to me that there are multiple plausible ways to deconvolute the effects of a multiple-component greenhouse, and so this statistic is ripe with potential to spin the result one way or another.

You are right. While, it is not entirely implausible to define the greenhouse effect of one component (say by asking how much the effect would change by removing all of that component and leaving everything else constant), there are a number of concerns with respect to how one defines that number and people having different ideaologies can reasonably quote different values depending on how they choose to approach the problem. Consequently, any single value is pretty much inherently POV. I am going to remove that recent addition. If the author wants to quote a range of values representative of the NPOV spectrum and add a discussion of the various ways the contribution of CO₂ is defined, then I wouldn't object to that. Dragons flight 17:22, Apr 29, 2005 (UTC)

PS. Please sign your statements on talk pages with 4 tildes ~~~~.

[edit] Indonesian peat fires...

The article sez:

with Indonesian peat fires recently releasing 13-40% as much carbon as fossil fuel burning does

This has no source. Nor does it state if this is per year; per all time; fossil fules globally or in indonesia... in short, its coming out unless backed up and explained. William M. Connolley 18:43:22, 2005-09-09 (UTC).

The source is in #Peat fires in peat link above. (SEWilco 20:48, 9 September 2005 (UTC))

Subtle, and not really very helpful. Ive made it rather more explicit. William M. Connolley 21:21:56, 2005-09-09 (UTC).

[edit] Merge from dry ice

There was no consensus for the merge here from dry ice. I suggest splitting it out again. Gene Nygaard 22:08, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree. I was surprised to see it moved here. There was a comment on the Dry Ice page yesterday... not sure where it went.--Bookandcoffee 17:36, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Here's the text from Talk:Dry ice (which you can still get to by clicking the "redirected from" link at the top of the page -- I don't know any way to code no-redirect into a wikilink):

I agree we should move the physical properties out to the CO₂ article. Dry ice, however, is unique amongst solids in that most people think about it separately from the gas. Thus I think it should stay as a separate article. Samw 23:52, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

That is fine with me. It was the mismatched physical properties that I did not like. Feel free to do whatever you think will improve the article. Bobblewik 18:06, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

Zack 01:58, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Dry Ice is an industrial product manufactured for a specific purpose. It is a separate subject.68.5.64.178 00:39, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Sikkema 17:21, 12 January 2007 (UTC)::I disagree; when discussing water, one cannot avoid talking about ice. "dry ice" is just another form of CO₂, and people should realize it is the same compound. Unless, of course, we effect a split between CO₂ as a chemical comopound, and an article about atmospheric CO₂ as suggested above.

[edit] Question

Does anyone know the temperature at which CaCO₃ decomposes to CaO + CO₂ ?

I am asking this in view of venus' atmosphere. 84.160.210.182 20:10, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

• According to our article on calcium carbonate, it is 825 °C, which fits with my vague memory of the value. This is at least 300 °C higher than surface temperatures on Venus. Physchim62 (talk) 10:37, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

So this could not have been the source of CO₂ aon venus. Thank you for the fast answer. 84.160.238.22 20:35, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] PaCO₂ Mention?

Considering the biological details included in this article, shouldn't a link to the Blood gas application of partial CO₂ pressure in medicine be included?

• I've added it as a "see also" for the time being, rather than mess around too much with a well written biology section. It is there for next editor to include in the text. Physchim62 (talk) 09:36, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Carbonic acid from CO₂

I need to know the minimum pH that can be obtained by passing CO₂ through water a approximately 2bar. Can anyone help me with this one.

Thank you for your time

I don't have the answer, but you can check the CRC handbook of chemistry and physics.Sikkema 17:23, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] refrigeration

"Liquid and solid carbon dioxide are important refrigerants, especially in the food industry, where they are employed during the transportation and storage of ice cream and other frozen foods." Dry ice is used for shipping small quantities of frozen items like medical samples or frozen food but I don't think it's used as a refrigerant is it? --Gbleem 03:46, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

I found this : http://www.hepco.co.jp/english/research/develop/result2004/res2004-04.html

Liquid CO₂ can be used as a conventional refrigerant in industrial circumstances, where it has the advantages of being cheap and non-toxic. The pressures required (50 bar) mean that it is impractical for domestic use. Physchim62 (talk) 08:40, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] = Question about capturing CO₂

It is being proposed to capture CO2 with Algae. I accept that this technology will work and that CO2 (e.g. from a coalburning power plant) can be converted in wet Algae material. After drying (preferably some kind of sun-drying) the amount of dry Algae matter (+/-50% Carbon content) is twice as large as the coal mass being applied in the power plant.

What are we going to do with the Algae mass? Burning again? Wim de Groot, the Netherlands

I'm trying to find out what the methods are for capturing, or seperating CO₂. Many coal powerplants are using algae photobioreactor systems to reduce their NOX and CO₂ emmisions, but i haven't been able to find out how they seperate the CO₂ from the smoke and particulate matter in order to feed it into the algae system.

Also, aside from plants, is there any way to capture/collect/seperate, the ambient CO₂ in the air.

Are there any materials that could be used to absorb CO₂, and then later release it.

Aside from pressurizing CO₂, is there a convenient way to store it,(perhaps a large tank).

How do submarines deal with the buildup of CO₂.

Is there an efficient way of producing CO₂, (gasification of coal, etc)

If anyone has information about any of these questions, please post it in the [[CO₂]] article.

-Daemon

Answer - I work in the industry. The Algae systems are the most developed CO2 mitigation techn ology out there, but they are still in the prototype stages - the technology is far from being commercially viable. Seriously - go to greenfuel.com they are doing test work on about 0.01% of american power generation - literally 4 or 5 of several thousand american power plants.

A fossil power plant burns fuel that releases NOX, SO2 & SO3 (acid rain), Mercury, CO2, and an amazing amount of heat. The NOX we take out using selective catalytic reduction - basically a giant version of the catalytic converter in your car. the SO2 & SO3 are removed by a properly tuned flue gas desulfurization system. The flue gas is piped through a giant shower of dry limestone powder OR wet limestone slurry, to create a gypsum byproduct, typically sold as drywall. Of course FGD Scrubber also pulls out the heavy metals, ionic mercury, and other nasties from the flue gas, and that ends up in solid waste or waste water. Vaporized Mercury? We can't do much with that yet. Honestly. There are allot of experimental technologies, and a federal law requiring reductions in 2015. But right now mercury control systems are borderline science fiction. We can build stuff that sorta works, but it's still experimental. CO2 is easier than mercury to "scrub" out of the flue gas, but it's on the tail end of a series of scrubbers, and only the young algae technology seems to work well

The updated wiki page has data on C02 capture technology. The most popular now is the ammonia based systems that Alstom is proposing. Which uses lots of power, and like all scrubber technologies, you take it out of the air, you have to put it some where - that's a solid waste issue or a waste water issue.

Currently, 2007, as a Professional that designs and builds Power plant emission control technology.. There is no proven C02 technology that Works at the power plant scale. The most developed and cleanest is the Algae bioreactors, and those are still experimental. The big money is in Amine Scrubbers and "Sequestration" - literally trying to Bury C02. Any scientist will describe that technique as dirty with chemical by products, and a ticking underground time bomb. Photosynthesis is the only CLEAN way to deal with CO2. Every other technique absorbs C02 into a chemical of some sort, and then you have to either dispose of the chemical, or then extract the "pure" co2 and bury it.

How do submarines deal with C02? Easy, they use a superior technology. Called a Nuclear Fission reactor. Very little waste, the only C02 comes from the crew. They can filter that out, release it into the water if they like, and use the reactor to crack the water for fresh oxygen.

Ask any physicist or Power engineer. One power plant to power a few million homes gives you the following options - "Clean" natural gas that pours tons sulfur and C02 into the air every day for an expensive price. "Dirty" coal, that is super cheap, even with emissions controls for the sulfur and NOX, puts out tons of C02, Ash, Scrubber by product per hour. And I mean like 10 tons of stuff per hour. Or a nuke that puts out a few pounds of spent radioactive fuel per year.

HERES THE BIG PROBLEM.

A Nuke Reactor puts out a tiny amount of solid waste annually, but is expensive to build, and people don't understand the technology. Solar can't produce large scale power yet. Wind farms only work sometimes, and often when you don't need it. Hydro has been pretty well tapped, and we are still figuring out economical geothermal beyond the niche market. So we are stuck for the moment with fossil fuels - burning Coal, Natural Gas, and Oil. No matter what you do, you are stuck with a large amount of Ash, NOX, Sulfur, Mercury, Vaporized metals, CO2, and heat. The heat we dissipate in an environmentally happy way and typically waste. The CO2 we are pretty close to "breathing" away with algae. You can pull all the nasty smoke from fossil fuels out of the air, and then you have it in a liquid or solid form. Easier to control waste, yes, but you still have to do something with the waste. In the end, Nukes put out the smallest amount of waste. But for the next 50 - 100 years or so, we will be spending billions every month on "cleaning" fossil fuels, until there are enough nukes and renewable power supplies to replace them. Which means 50 years of mitigated fossil fuel burning, lots of burying ash and heavy metal, lots of "almost clean" waste water run off. And they only other option is to turn off the power, and freeze in the dark. Our culture is learning, and trust me we are working very, very hard to clean up the world... But we have a long way to go, and we are the generation that will shoulder and correct the mistakes of our fore fathers.

Back to the point - Good news is we can deal with C02 using photosynthesis. The Algae technology out of MIT is maturing just in time. Combined with SCR for the NOX, an FGD for the sulfur, and a little luck for Mercury, burning coal isn't actually that bad.

But the CO2 problem will be solved by Algae, the best photosynthesis we have. And there is no garuntee that CO2 will end global warming, only the hope that we are making a difference.

24.9.13.134 04:22, 20 March 2007 (UTC) TS

[edit] How to measure carbon dioxide

Does anyone know of a way to measure the volume of CO₂ when it decomposes from copper carbonate to Copper oxideand carbon dioxide?

Sikkema 17:26, 12 January 2007 (UTC):Prepare a setup in the chemical laboratory with a closed vessel with your (known) amount of CopperCarbonate. From this vessel, you lead a hose into a measuring cylinder that is upside down in ACIDIC water. (e.g. 5% AcOH). Do the reaction (probably heat it up) and read the volume. Presto.

[edit] organic or inorganic

I was answering questions from my biology book and a question came up, is carbon dioxide organic or inorganic?

There was a paragraph in the book that said, organic compounds are either found or made by living orgainism, all other compounds are inorganic. Some inorganic compounds thats are essential to living organisms include water, minerals ... and carbon dioxide.

So is it organic or inorganic. Or do I just answer it as both organic and inorganic?

The dividing line between organic and inorganic is not always clear. From the organic compound article, it says that organic compounds are a subset of compounds that contain carbon and hydrogen, and since carbon dioxide doesn't contain hydrogen, it's not organic. The inorganic chemistry of carbon article also explicitly mentions carbon dioxide is inorganic. --Spoon! 06:26, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Sikkema 17:29, 12 January 2007 (UTC) Spoon is right, in science the separator between organic and inorganic chemistry is disappearing, and becoming completely irrelevant. You biology book is incorrect. For example: your blood contains hemoglobin, that transports oxygen through your body, but it does so with the use of iron.

[edit] High concentrations of CO₂ poisonous?

It says that concentrations of more than 5% of CO₂ is poisionous, and this is hinted in articles like Apollo 13, but pages like Asphyxia and Limnic eruption just hints that the CO₂ is displacing the oxygen. When I see that we usually breathe out 4.5% CO₂, and 5% is poisionous, I start to think that our lungs are not capable of getting rid of CO₂ if there is too much CO₂ in the air ... is that right? tobixen 19:26, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

• The level of carbon dioxide is the main signal used by the body to ensure the correct breathing rate: see air hunger. So yes, excessive levels of CO₂ in the air screw up one of the most important control mechanisms in the body, I think that can be defined as "toxic"... Physchim62 (talk) 08:44, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
• Carbon dioxide also acidifies the blood, so I can imagine that raising the concentration would play havoc with your body. Gas exchange in the lungs is just by diffusion, and therefore limited by the external concentration. I've worked with dry ice and gotten a lungful of the vapors; your lungs just sort of seize up. 72.57.79.40 00:02, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 5% sounds a little low, but yes you can asphyxiate on higher levels of CO₂ And example of this is the lakes in Cameroon, Africa that kill some hundred people and animals when it released a huge amount of CO₂. If your blood pH changes too much your cells do not work properly. LoyalSoldier 17:17, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is plant biomass in the northern hemisphere really responsible?

The article currently claims:

Because of the greater land area, and therefore greater plant life, in the northern hemisphere as compared to the southern hemisphere, there is an annual fluctuation of about 5 µL/L, peaking in May and reaching a minimum in October at the end of the northern hemisphere growing season, when the quantity of biomass on the planet is greatest.

According to the Phytoplankton article, "Through photosynthesis phytoplankton produce approximately 98% of atmospheric oxygen."

This doesn't seem to add up. Perhaps phytoplankton removing CO₂ from the oceans doesn't affect atmospheric CO₂ as immediately as land plants do. Perhaps seasons don't effect phytoplankton CO₂ consumption as much as they do land plants. Perhaps lots of things that I'm not thinking of contribute to making the "greater land area in the northern hemisphere" statement correct.

My initial reaction however, is that this explanation needs some confirmation.

If you can watch flash, you should view the movie at http://www.daac.ornl.gov/NPP/npp_home.html. This shows the intensity of primary productivity, or carbon fixation, over a multi-year period. You'll see that terrestrial primary productivity can be far more intense, and is far more variable with the seasons, than marine primary productivity.

Honestly, the 98% marine number strikes me as strange, unless it might be based on some confusion between gross and net primary production: maybe phytoplankton do an enormous amount of photosynthesis compared to terrestrial plants, but also consume almost all the resulting oxygen through their respiration. I don't know. Shimmin 22:31, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Sikkema 17:37, 12 January 2007 (UTC): Indeed, this seems unlikely, although a mixture of effects cannot be excluded from the discussion. I think that the sun, with its warmth, liberates more CO₂ from the northern hemisphere oceans, which is perhaps more productive than the southern half... A search in Scifinder Scolar (scientific database) yields torrents of info. to be continued.

Al Gore in an Inconvent Truth shows that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere reduces when the North is titled towards the Sun, this he puts down to the number of plants growing in this time is increased then when the South is facing the Sun. 98% from phytoplankton does seem too high as well.

[edit] % of CO₂ in atmosphere error ?

I think that the %figure,.035% routinely used for the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere is in error. This figure is routinely seen on websites used by schools and, in fact, everywhere. The bulk of the air is Nitrogen78%, Oxygen21%, and only .9% (nine tenths of 1 % is left for trace gasses, CO₂ is .035% of the trace gasses only, not of the whole atmosphere, which makes it even less than Xenon. This in turn makes it only .000350% of the whole atmosphere. So, if CO₂ has increased from,lets say, 350 ppm to 380 ppm in the last 100 years, this is an increase of 30 ppm in 100 years .00003%. If this is not correct I'd appreciate some professional help.Willyger 23:53, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

380 ppm means that it corresponds to 380/1,000,000 times the volume of the total atmosphere, or 0.038%. The figure is correct though 0.035% would be rather out of date. Dragons flight 00:06, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I concur with the percentage, 380 ppm = 0.000380 fraction = 0.038%. But now I think that the estimate of the mass of CO₂ is horribly off. The article on earth's atmosphere indicates that the mass of the whole atmosphere is 5,000 trillion tons (5E+15 tons). The current article indicates that the atmosphere is 0.057% CO₂ by weight, which would give a CO₂ mass of 2.85E+12. The article however gives a value of 2.94E+9, a difference of three orders of magnitude! I couldn't source the 2.94E+9 number. Can anybody else? Sethery 04:57, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Sethery, you are correct. The mass of CO₂ in the atmosphere should be 2.9E+12 metric tonnes. For example: http://cdiac.ornl.gov/pns/faq.html gives t 1 ppmv of CO₂ = 2.13 Gt of carbon. Thus 380 ppmv = 809E+9 metric tonnes of C. And converting to the mass of CO₂, (using 3.664 g CO₂/ g C) gives 2.965E+12 metric tonnes of CO₂ in the atmosphere. I've modified the article. --B Carey 18:21, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

You guys are using the ppm figures for the conditions on the surface. That is incorrect. The scalingheigth of air is about 8.4km the one of CO2 is 5.5km. This means that there is in total only about 2/3rds of what you calculated. (the result is obtained bij integrating the barometric formula) Considering the ppm value constant over the whole atmosphere would be silly in my opinion! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Geelhoed (talk • contribs) 14:07, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

CO2 is well mixed in air, as indeed are all the long-lived constituents. Your figure of 5.5km for CO2 is wrong - where did you get it from? William M. Connolley 14:17, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

It's a simple from the barometric formula. R*T/M/g = 8.3*288/0.044/9.8 = 5550 meter

[edit] Available Fraction error?

This article says, "The ratio of the emitted CO₂ to the increase in atmospheric CO₂ is known as the airborne fraction." Isn't this backwards? For example, "airborne fraction—The fractional amount of carbon dioxide, CO₂, that remains in the gas phase relative to a given increase in the total amount of CO₂ (atmosphere and ocean combined)," according to the Glossary at the American Meteorological Society, http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?p=1&query=airborne+fraction&submit=Search. Jedwards05 03:43, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

    I originally posed this CO2 % question after seeing  http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/atmospheric_gasses.htm
   this lists trace gases as % of the atmosphere (all trace gases put together are .9%) Argon 0.934%, Neon 0.0018%, Helium 0.000524%, Methane 0.0002%, Krypton 0.000114%, Hydrogen 0.0005%, Nitrous Oxide 0.00005%, Xenon 0.0000087%.
  I'm not an academic, but since they don't even list CO2 in this chart, I'm assuming that it is less than Xenon, and as I originally asserted, that would make it 0.0000350%, but it would make it .035% of the .9% of trace gases, no? Willyger Willyger 00:29, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What?!

Surely the line "The three vibrational modes of carbon dioxide: (a) symmetric, (b) asymmetric stretching; (c) bending. In (a), there is no change in dipole moment, thus interaction with photons is impossible" under the CO₂ model must be completely wrong. Why would it have an absorption spectrum if it didn't have any interaction with photons??!--Deglr6328 03:53, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Mode (a) cannot be excited by IR absorption. Modes (b) and (c) do change the molecule's dipole moment, and can be excited by absorbing photons. Shimmin 01:07, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

• Modes (b) and (c) can be excited by electric dipole radiation. Mode (a) changes the molecule's electric quadrupole moment and can therefore be excited by electric quadrupole radiation, though the cross section is much smaller. 72.57.79.40 00:04, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] poor wording

Why does the wording on the dry ice section seem so bad? Its like the person who wrote it thought he was talking to a bunch of kindergarteners

Funny, I came here to say just the same thing. I have started to improve the wording a little.. but it all needs a further overhaul. No offense intended to whomever wrote it but it comes off like something written for a grade 3 science project. I don't have time to do it all right now but if it hasn't been improved later I'll work a little more at it. --CokeBear 00:36, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

hi! just found your comments having done a restructure of the dry ice section. It looked like the text was originally lifted from elsewhere... - Zephyris _Talk 16:03, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ppm vs µL/L

These units seem to be interchangable. Should we just stick to one or the other throughout the article?--71.52.169.173 17:10, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Sikkema 17:45, 12 January 2007 (UTC): I have nothing but admiration for SI zealots; ppm and ppb (and ppt) cannot be accurately defined! Whereas μL/L is an exact number. Let's try to keep to the SI, PLEASE. I haven't the faintest clue what the difference is, for example, between dry, imperial, ton, or tonne. All I know is the metric ton, exactly 1000 kg.

If ppm are to be used, then they should be specified as ppmv, for precision. WMC could state this with far greater certainty than I, but it seems to me that ppmv are the units most frequently used when atmospheric scientists discuss CO₂ concentrations in the earth's atmosphere. However, at some point in the past SI zealot Gene Nygaard saw fit to replace all instances of ppmv with µL/L, and no one saw fit to made an edit war out of it, and so it has remained thus to this day. Shimmin 19:03, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Personally, I prefer ppmv. I think uL/L is more something you see in liquid chemistry rather than gaseous chemistry. Dragons flight 20:02, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Agree, ppmv is my preference as it seems much more commonly used for atmospheric and environmental chemistry. Vsmith 20:35, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Just to report that as a general reader I found this sudden and unexplained change in units quite troublesome. It triggered a time-wasting search for a definition, which appears to be absent. There needs to be consistency within the article AND, if µL/L is favoured, an explanation of the equivalence or otherwise of this unit to the one generally used throughout the global warming debate. GardenQuad 10:38, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. I've changed to ppmv throughout William M. Connolley 11:34, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dry Ice Bombs

Making dry ice bombs. Warm water is mixed with dry ice and then pressurized in a plastic container.

I found this information to be both interesting and amusing. However, should it really be listed as an Industrial Use for Carbon Dioxide?--216.75.93.104 17:51, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

It shouldn't be listed as an industrial use for Carbon Dioxide. I don't think Dry ice bombs are used industrially--Taida 18:08, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Percent of man made CO₂

According to the Enviornment Agency, about 4% of CO₂ emissions are man made. How has this led to such a large % rise in atmospheric CO₂? Rich Farmbrough 13:53 9 August 2006 (GMT).

· I’ve heard CO2 emissions from human activities are small compared to what’s released by nature.

The Earth has a natural CO2 cycle that moves massive amounts of CO2 into and out of the atmosphere. The oceans and land vegetation release and absorb over 200 billion metric tons of carbon into and out of the atmosphere each year. When the cycle is balanced, atmospheric levels of CO2 remain relatively stable. Human activities are now adding about 7 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year,which is only about 3–4% of the amount exchanged naturally. But that’s enough to knock the system out of balance, surpassing nature’s ability totake our CO2 emissions out of the atmosphere. The oceans and land vegetation are absorbing about half of our emissions; the other half remains airborne for 100 years or longer. This is what is causing the rapid buildup of CO2, a buildup that dwarfs natural fluctuations.

From http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/infodata/faq_cat-1.html#23 (see the references section) Richard001 01:49, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

I always wonder why no one bothers to mention the fact that there are more humans alive on earth than ever before in history... at 450 litres per person per day that is some 2.7 trillion litres of CO2 per day that is unavoidable. Shall we start the mass executions now?

The whole system is somewhat out of balance and we've changed it fast enough that nature cannot compensate. There is not enough data to show whether nature can or not... but the fact is the damage has been done over many many years and it will take years to sort it out. There is no quick fix, because none of this has been sudden, and sadly politicians aren't often in office on the geological scale needed to follow through. It is easy to make a % rise look immense when dealing with very small numbers. If I have a penny and you give me two more, my money has tripled. It doesn't mean you can now tell me that I can buy a Lamborghini.--CokeBear 00:54, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wierd formattting error

Under Concentrations of CO₂ in atmosphere, the left picture goes over the text in FireFox. Any ideas on why this happens?

Because of Global Warming, silly. Professor Chaos 23:55, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Fixed with a well placed <br clear=all />. <sarcasm> Thanks for your help, Professor Chaos! </sarcasm> - Jack (talk) 21:33, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Rise in temperature due to CO₂?

As described in the article CO₂ absorbs IR wavelenght also called heat-radiation. How can it affect greenhouse system when it absorbs the energy before it hits the surface? Lord Metroid 15:18, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

See greenhouse effect for the details. This article should have pointed you there William M. Connolley 15:35, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Theoretically the wavelengths it absorbs are the lower frequency wavelengths radiated by the Earth and not the higher frequencies radiated by the sun. What the article fails to mention is that CO₂ accounts for quite a small amount of the greenhouse effect. Water vapor accounts for nearly all the effect. Professor Chaos 00:50, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Please sign your posts with ~~~~. And no, it does account for "nearly all". This is all covered in the GHG article, if you're interested William M. Connolley 08:21, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, water is a very potent greenhouse gas, without it, we'd freeze. However, we cannot control the contents of water in the atmosphere, and is it equal in time, on average. The CO₂ levels are within our control. THe contribution of this gas are still under investigation. Sikkema 17:51, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

I've seen in a recent documentary, "The great global warming swindle", that the CO₂ level in the atmosphere actually lags 800 years behind the temperature variations over time. This is due to the water mass taking roughly 800 years to reach the same temperature as the land. Taking this time-delay into account, core-samples seem to indicate CO₂ level in the atmosphere neatly following temperature as it's solubility in water changes. Although CO₂ is in our control, it is a negligible factor: Mankind contributes 6.5 Gigatonnes of CO₂ / year. Volcanoes produce more, while animals and bacteria are good for 150 Gigatonnes. Rotting vegetation. And the oceans contribute the most to the level of atmospheric CO2. --87.64.132.65 13:11, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed split into Atmospheric carbon dioxide

I feel that most people, when they look up CO₂, will be looking for information entirely on this subtopic. Therefore in order to provide that in enough depth - and keep this chemistry page free from clutter - I suggest we make a split. The new page could properly talk about the greenhouse effect; and changing concentrations over time, and the effect of that. Also, if anyone thinks they have a better name for the title or ideas to add to the new article, that would be much appreciated. Thanks :) - Jack (talk) 15:31, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

I feel that extra details of atmospheric CO₂ would probably be better placed in greenhouse gas, which is a bit short at present. sbandrews 14:59, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Putting it into GHG sounds like a good idea William M. Connolley 15:14, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Good idea about the split. I agree with sbandrews and William M. Connolley about merging the information with greenhouse gas. --Plumbago 16:26, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

split is good, but maintain some text here too. I agree somewhat about moving it to GHG, but would like to flag the possibility of problems as yet unforseen. I guess they can be dealt with as they come though. --naught101 03:10, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm inclined to favor the creation of a separate article, and not a merge into greenhouse gas. I think there is enough information that could be said about atmospheric CO2 to easily overshadow everything presently written in greenhouse gas. For example, the text here hardly even touches on sources, sinks, or residence time. Dragons flight 04:50, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

I suggest merge into greenhouse gas as a first step; if in the future it gets long enough, merge-out individual "xyz gas in the atmosphere" articles. Maintain a summary section in this article, and a summary section in greenhouse gas (if it ever merges out). -- Stbalbach 04:55, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree with the suggestion for a split to a separate article with residual text here. I initially searched for "Atmospheric C02" and was surprised not to get a quick result. It may be a greenhouse gas, but it's also the most prominent and discussed of them, and people will be looking for, say, the charts in this section more than those for all greenhouse gases combined. All imo, of course. 142.177.47.93 20:29, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

It should probably be created sooner or later given the importance of the subject. There is a lot more we can write about here (e.g. management of CO₂ in plants), though for now greenhouse gas is pretty small and this article isn't overly large, so it's not something that must be done urgently. Richard001 00:40, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Eh, Guys... Can somebody take the "i luv jer i luv jer i luv jer i luv jer i luv jer i luv jer i luv jer i luv jer" out of the Origins part of the article? I would my zelf, but i have no clue on how. Some idiot probably thought he was funny. 62.163.98.243 00:31, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I feel splitting the article is extremely important because it would focus mainly on the fact of atmospheric CO2 and Global Warming, a major issue in the world today. It is one of the largest factors that changes the conditions of the earth. Split it! 24.149.134.138 03:09, 28 February 2007 (UTC)EDeMeo

I agree. I came here looking for an article on atmospheric carbon dioxide. Prefer a separate article than a merge with GHG due to the volume of CO2 specific information. Phil153 17:56, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Some Cleanup

I noticed that portions of the article on the need for inserting carbon dioxide into greenhouses weren't referenced and were also inaccurate. I've done some cleanup, but there are still some claims I can't substantiate - outside my field of expertise. 200.121.111.113 17:36, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Greenhouse Gas

The discussion of CO2 as a suspect greenhouse gas belongs further along in the article, not the opening paragraph. The Greenhouse and Global Warming debate is still open to much debate, still in infancy, to be so bold and conclusive as to be presented in the opening paragraph. Show the scientific method a little respect, else wiki will remain an unacceptable source of knowledge in schools and colleges. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:68.188.180.22 (talk • contribs).

"Global Warming" is only up for debate insofar as details need working out (sometimes important details). The broad outline of anthropogenic emissions affecting the climate has been accepted by the scientific community for more than a decade (and was already accepted by many scientists two decades ago). That one can find individual scientists who dispute it only tells you that science is a broad church. That these scientists appear in the media in a 1:1 ratio with scientists who hold to the scientific consensus only tells you that the media's definition of "fair and balanced" is unrepresentative and non-meritocratic. --Plumbago 09:10, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

P.S. In future, add your post to the bottom of a Talk page. The top is always old items which people don't read anymore. --Plumbago 09:10, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

And, I too, am secretly an FPS. I've probably pwned you before in BF2! Not really, you probably pwned me a few times. Anywho, more on the CO2 'greenhouse' debate, which indeed, is still much of a debate - as it seems. A warming trend, in my opinion, is about 50/50 correct, depending on how one interprets the data vs. the urban bubble effect. As urban areas grow, so does CO2 and temperature (not as related as a layman may assume) - meaning not really global warming, but regional warming. As I have noticed in the Detroit (USA) area for about 20 years. What started my fascination was - I knew the local weather was reported from Detroit Metro Airport. I haved lived north, west, and east of the airport, and my local weather was always about 1 degree C cooler. I've been following this for years. I even called a local broadcaster regarding this phenomena, and all they said was 'interesting'. That was 1993. Since then, and after much research, I remain convinced urban areas are about 1-2 degrees C +/- of suburban, especially rural areas. I have also discovered in order to obtain many records, citizens must pay $25 and more for an electronic listing, which is highly suspicious as my tax dollars have been funding these records for decades.

Oh, thanks for the tip of adding comments at the end. I'm a wiki noob. I want to create a wiki account as you have. Cheers bro. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.188.180.22 (talk • contribs) 05:22, 3 March 2007.

Please note - this is a page for discussing improving the article and not for original research or general ranting about global warming. Vsmith 15:55, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

And you also take note, keep 'geenhouse gas' out of the 'opening paragraph'. It is still up to debate. Period. Keep the article concentrated on CO2. There is already an appropriate section discussing it's suspect role as a greenhouse gas. It does not belong in the opening paragraph. GL and Greenhouse debate is still up for much debate for exactly this reason - some amatuer makes an 'assumption' early on, then the rest of the project is skewed. Let the already established section of the article spark interest. Else some school kid will base his research under the Assumption made in the first four lines.

I'm sorry, but CO2 is an important greenhouse gas. I'd challenge you to produce even one peer reviewed piece of research in the last 50 years that disputes that CO2 contributes to the greenhouse effect. Dragons flight 02:39, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Point taken. Let's seperate 'Greenhouse Gas' from 'Global Warming'. Greenhouse Effect is a proven topic. Global Warming is still in debate. Unfortunately, the US media, also other media, has gotten this terribley confused. They blend the two ideas as one. Maybe best left alone. Danke Schone. I'll sleep on it. I want the two seperated, but might be beyond my repair of the abhorant ignorance the media insists.

I repeat: this page is for discussion of the article and how to improve it. Please keep your comments on topic. CO2 is a greenhouse gas. That is a simple statement of fact irregardless of any connection to global warming. Vsmith 03:43, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

I put in a 'greenhouse effect' gas. Looks a bit better. To leave or omit Joseph Fourier's name? As it seems to imply he discovered the gas. It is all about improving the article, vsmith. It was very misleading before. Misleading, indeed, as artsy folk as Dragon might like. Improvement. Yes.

vsmith, it is a Greenhouse Effect gas, not Greenhouse Gas. Check your wiki links and articles. Global Warming is STILL in much heated debate. "Greenhouse Effect" is not. Now, are you true to you, or true to science? Until you prove CO2 is part of a so-called GL, then leave it out of the opening paragraph. You are puropsely misleading anyone reading this article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.188.180.22 (talk • contribs) 03:54, 5 March 2007.

Please keep personal remarks out of the discussion and please sign with four tildes ~~~~, it's easy. I didn't revert that last by the way. Now what causes the greenhous effect? Why, I think it would be greenhouse gases, no? So just how is that misleading? Stating that CO2 is a greenhouse gas is not an attempt to push any global warming pov - just a factual statement. Vsmith 04:06, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

vsmith, thanks for the info. I'll check the 68.188.180.22 04:15, 5 March 2007 (UTC). Maybe in a couple of years, I'll be an admin. Probably not. Please, check the Greenhouse Gas and Greenhouse Effect articles. You will see they are very different, and why one is still in debate and reads like a Discovery Channel doom and gloom, the other very straight forward. I will try to keep 'personal' comment out in the future.

Regarding the unity of opinion between scientists: People on the list of 2500 IPCC scientists claim that they had to threaten with legal action in order to be removed from that list. If you state something for the IPCC (International Panel for Climate Change) and they cut half out of it, you are still considered a contributor. It is a purely political body. They reverse cause and effect with regard to the CO₂ - Temperature relation and the fact that vineyards could be found all the way up to scotland around the 13th century is also omitted. I refer to the documentary "The great global warming swindle"... --87.64.132.65 13:44, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Possible alternative atomic structure

When takeing my chemestry test I noticed another possibility. Is this possible?

..
:O
 |>C:
:O
..

I counted up all the electrons for each atom and they all equal 8 Carbon starts out with 4 and requres 4 more. Oxygen has 6 electrons and requires 2 more so if every atom shares one electron with every other atom, every atom should contain 8 electrons and should be stable. -Hamster2.0 20:39, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Nope, Carbon has 6 there.

• That doesn't mean anything. The octet rule is only a nice guideline. Sort of like NO₂ has a radical electron orbital. However that structure would be unstable. LoyalSoldier 17:21, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

If you add two hydrogen atoms to the carbon, then you have dioxirane, a known molecule (although there's no wikipedia article about it yet). But that's no longer an isomer of CO2, I'm afraid. --Itub 14:01, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

The molecule that you have drawn is a carbene, and not a particularly stable one at that... Physchim62 (talk) 17:32, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted text about how much CO2 is in the rocks

The following text was removed 01-12-2007 by Sikkema

It was originally added 03-11-2004 by Flockmeal

Since I found no discussion about this change, I was wondering if the data was wrong. If it is correct, I think it should be re-added, if it is wrong, then an explanation is necessary since this statement has been on line for almost 3 years and at least 100 other pages quote it (based on a Google search).

Q Science 08:37, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Rough calculation suggests this correct to at least within a factor of a couple. Dragons flight 00:44, 6 April 2007 (UTC)