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To: Dan3 who wrote (112990)10/10/2000 12:39:49 AM
From: Ross  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 186894
 
OT: Oxygen. A book I just grabbed off the shelf says that the atmosphere is 21% oxygen (that's the O2 molecule) and 0.03% CO2 by volume. I assume that this translates into the same percentage by number. A doubling of CO2 could cause a very small decrease in the amount of O2. That would probably be overwhelmed by other changes. Just one guess, more CO2 leads to more plants, leads to more O2, but I'm getting out of my area of expertise there.

Ross



To: Dan3 who wrote (112990)10/10/2000 1:18:28 AM
From: The Duke of URLĀ©  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 186894
 
Where, exactly, do you think that the O and O2 in Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide come from? Little Oxygen Leprechauns?

No. Dan, it is common knowledge that Carbon Dioxide, in its gaseous form comes the Chateau d'If, on the Isle of Elba, where they have no stop lights, no SUVs and where Vin Cerf invented Boredom. :)))

......WHAT?!? Don't I get to call a friend????



To: Dan3 who wrote (112990)10/10/2000 10:47:31 AM
From: rudedog  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 186894
 
Dan - Oxygen makes up roughly 20% of the atmosphere as O2. Carbon Dioxide makes up less than 1/2 of 1% (molecular composition - by volume the numbers are even worse for CO2). CO2 has increased about 3% in the last 50 years.

So here's the math lesson - how much of a decrease in O2 did that 3% increase in CO2 require?
Assuming constant totals for Oxygen, the change in O2 for the additional CO2 represents .03 X .015 or .00045 of the total atmosphere. The change represents .00045 /.2 or .002% change in O2.

A similar change was first observed as occurring between 900AD and 1050AD based on carbon dating techniques, when obviously the fossil fuel burn rate was insignificant. Those same techniques show that shifts of a few percent seem to occur in 300 year cycles, first up and then down, probably reflecting changes in ecological balance - a richer CO2 environment stimulates more plant O2 production, which tends to reverse the effect. When the CO2 levels drop, plant production of O2 drops, allowing the CO2 level to rise again... and so on. This makes the projection of our current increase based on a 50 year sample suspect.

But with a change in O2 of two tenths of a percent in 50 years, even if the trend is accurate, I don't think I will be gasping for breath any time in the next few thousand years.