Greenhouse Gases Research.
Greenhouse gases are necessary to support life on any planet. Without them our planet would freeze, since they store heat in our atmosphere. Energy from the sun arrives at the earth penetrating our atmosphere. It then bounces of the Earth and some of it goes into the atmosphere, while the rest is stored as heat, since the gases prevent it from escaping. This is a good thing, however if there is too much greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, that would mean more heat stored, which in turn can have catastrophic results.
C02 (carbon dioxide) is one of these gases that is the leading culprit in storing heat. Carbon Flux before the industrial revolution stayed a steady 0 x 10^12. By about 1870-2000 the amount of C02 emissions jumped from 0 to about 6.5 x 10^12 (that equals 6,500,000,000,000) in kg of carbon dioxide gas. This was measured in the atmosphere and ice cores drilled in the Antarctic. The cause of this jump is the burning of fossil fuels such as oil (gasoline), and coal. Since the creation of automobiles the amount of C02 gas in the atmosphere has risen 100 parts per million. That might not seem like a reasonable ratio, 370/1,000,000, But it is alot for our atmosphere. This means that along with water vapor our chances for Global Warming Potential are great.
(actual calculation done by me 'Evan', using the equation Y x 10^12 = X 'refer to graph below').
Thats just to 2000. By now this amount could have reached over 7,000,000,000,000 kg. Very Bad news for the environment, especialy the oceans since they absorb much of the C02 gases (Chemically, the carbon dioxide (CO2) reacts with the ocean water (H2O) to form a carbonic acid (H2CO3)... some chemistry in global science class). If we keep burning fossil fuels and bio masses at the rate we currently are The oceans could become acidic to the point hundreds of species will die off. For example pteropods are a type of snail that uses the calcium in ocean water to carbonate its shell. Any drop in the oceans pH level could prevent them from growing a shell which will kill them... The oceans pH has already droped by 0.1% in the past century. Only this slight drop has caused the acidity of the oceans to increase by about 30-50%. The death of these little guys along with other species can cause the extinction of many larger animals that rely on them for food. Makes me not want to even drive a car.
Weather patterns can be also effected as well. During the spring time when things start to heat up we see our weather change. Strong and sometimes violent storms start to be produced, and last till the end of summer. We all know an abnormally warm summer can produce very strong and severe weather. However an increase in greenhouse gases would only make the summers hotter, and you could expect weather anomalies like tornadoes to pop up in areas that have never seen them. Incredibly strong hurricanes could wreak havoc on the east coast and, very possibly all the way to New York City.
At the moment predicting the exact time when the full effects of these emissions will be felt is next to impossible, and not many people seem to care about it. I say to them, "WAKE UP!.. The earth is in a comming doom and gloom and if we do nothing to lessen the effects we are all going to pay the price." With our slowley dwindaling ammount of fossil fuels, our only hope is to find an alternative... Hydrogen, Fusion, anything clean and renewable. If we don't, we may never see dolphins jump in the waves, or see our kids grow up in a tranquil society... Please do your part to help.
No comments:
Post a Comment