Effects On The Atmosphere

[Quantoman]

How would an increase in CO2 Levels in the atmosphere effect O2 levels

in the atmosphere?

 

also does this make any sense;

 

Air is 21% oxygen

so if CO2 doubles (say 350ppm or so)

air will be 20.965% oxygen

 

its seems crazy that simple subtraction would have an effect on O2

levels which is a constant variable.

 

pls tell if i am wrong.

 

thank you

[D H]

The percentage of oxygen decreases because burning hydrocarbons adds CO2 to the atmosphere.

 

A simple analogy: Suppose you have a box that contains 9 red balls and nothing else. The makeup of the contents of the box is obviously 100% red balls. Now add one white ball. There are still 9 red balls, but the percentages have changed: 90% of the balls are red.

[DrCloud]

Adding CO2 in and of itself (not by creating it by combustion but by adding it from, say, tanks full) will decrease other gases in their percentage of the overall composition, like the red ball analogy. But creating it by combustion, after which it gets added to the atmosphere, also uses O2 in the process.

 

All of this is embodied in the global cycles of these (and other) gases. Because the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is so large (around 200,000 parts per million) compared to CO2 (not quite 400 parts per million, a factor of 500 less) not much attention is paid to it. In particular, the measurement uncertainty in its abundance is probably about as large as the effect you're asking about.

 

So, in principle, yes there's an effect; in practice, it's not an issue. No doubt people are studying it, like just about everything is studied these days, but it's not an issue. HPH

[Quantoman]

i dont know about that.. although i understand the red ball analogy, i still

would have to disagree... let say you have that same box but it has a

endless supply of red balls (photosynthesis) and each time you take one

out another takes its place?

 

i look at it like a slow running faucet you can use the water and convert

it to beer but the water is still flowing.

 

i think just because you convert O2 into CO2 does not mean the production

of O2 has stopped.

[DrCloud]

You're quite right: the atmospheric reservoir of oxygen and many other gases is not at all fixed in the sense that it's the same molecules floating around all the time. They're constantly created (in the case of oxygen, by photosynthesis) and used up (combustion). This is why I referred to the "global cycles" of these gases.

 

Globally, the atmospheric reservoir of any of them is a balance among creation processes, destruction processes, and exchange with other parts of the Earth system, such as the land (biosphere) and the oceans. (These other parts of the system are also reservoirs with their own creation and destruction processes.) It's hugely complicated because there are only estimates of some of the exchange processes available, and some of the creation/destruction processes are pretty obscure.

 

What this all means is that your original comment is essentially correct: oxygen and carbon dioxide aren't independent in the atmosphere in the sense that their cycles are linked.

 

My point was that the atmospheric reservoir of oxygen is so much larger than that of carbon dioxide that we don't tend to worry about the former too much. HPH

[SmallIsPower]

That's a tiny percentage of O2 decrease, the dangers of global warming are obvious, but I can't imagine the changes in O2 would be nearly as important.

[weknowthewor]

I have following details of CO2 effects on atmosphere :

 

First don't assume that all Carbon Dioxide is bad and should be curtailed. In fact, Carbon Dioxide is essential to life itself since it forms a part of the natural cycle called the Carbon cycle. Carbon Dioxide is an essential ingredient in the photosynthetic process of plants

 

CO2 + H2O + sunlight -----> glucose(sugar) + Oxygen

 

In order for nature to supply this carbon dioxide it must be produced by respiration which both plants and animals undergo:

 

glucose + Oxygen ------> CO2 + H2O

 

As long as other intervening factors do not insert themselves, this balance is maintained. Unfortunately, industrialization and deforestation (to name only two factors) have contributed to an imbalance resulting in a gradual increase of the total Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. Many industrial processes involve the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum fuels.

 

In addition, a more sinister product of incomplete combustion occurs when the combustible fuel does not receive enough Oxygen gas. This product is Carbon Monoxide. It is considered toxic. The effects of the toxicity will depend upon the concentration and length of exposure. The symptoms of mild toxicity are nausea, headaches, irritability. Chronic toxicity will result in loss of consciousness, and eventually death. The reason Carbon Monoxide is so dangerous is because it has a complex with Hemoglobin that is more stable than the complex formed between Oxygen and Hemoglobin. With the presence of Carbon Monoxide, Oxygen is blocked from forming the hemoglobin complex. This prevents the Oxygen from reaching the body's cells resulting in oxygen depletion. Eventually at higher concentrations the brain cells have Oxygen depletion and loss of consciousness, coma, and eventually (if not corrected) death. The only reversal to this condition is to reach the victim in time and to administer large doses of Oxygen rich air into the victim's lungs. This could have the effect of reversing the favorable Carbon Monoxide complexation with Hemoglobin.

 

In addition, man's desire to develop land without replacing the natural plant resources that must be removed for land development has resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of trees on the earth. A tree undergoing photosynthesis will be a major contributor to reducing the carbon dioxide and replenishing the Oxygen supply. Removal of these trees will slowly have an effect by increasing the Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere and decreasing the Oxygen.

 

A phenomenon known as desertization (creation of deserts) occurs as a side effect when forests are destroyed. It is said that the great Sahara Desert was once a lush green area. Both industrialization, use of the internal combustion machines and deforestation will increase CO2.

 

What effect does increased CO2 have?

 

It will affect our sea levels and our weather patterns and could ironically introduce a new ice age prematurely. This is sometimes called the greenhouse effect.

 

The CO2 increase in the atmosphere will result in more radiation remaining on the earth. This increase in Infrared energy will have a warming effect on the earth's surface over a period of time. This is gradual to be sure, but it really does not take a real large increase in the body temperature of the earth to cause the ice caps to begin melting at a faster rate. This will do at least four things:

 

* 1. It could increase significantly the sea levels on the coastal regions thereby flooding all coastal regions and changing the land mass area significantly. This would affect many world centers negatively.

 

* 2. It could decrease the ice caps thereby reducing the ability of the ice caps to reflect further radiation out into space.

 

* 3. It could increase the water surface area and the amount of liquid water which will absorb more energy causing a counteractive "cooling" trend (ie:ice age phenomenon)

 

* 4. It could alter the weather patterns thus changing the weather zones. The tropic zone will move north. The temperater zone further toward the poles. This could result in a further reduction in the polar ice caps.

[Icemelt]

It's very probable that glacial / interglacial cycles are affected by the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We are currently coming to the end of an interglacial period and, although mankind is deemed to be responsible for the current high levels of carbon dioxide, in the past a build up of carbon dioxide has traditionally followed interglacial periods. The increases are primarily due to higher activity of micro-organisms during the warmer interglacial spells, allowing vegetation to rot and release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We would therefore ordinarily expect an increase in carbon dioxide at this stage of our glacial / interglacial cycle at this time, so it should come as no surprise !

[weknowthewor]

the total amount of gases in universe remains constant. if C)2 increases by reducing oxygen, then only it will affect O2, causing breathing problems!!