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A hot button topic for the last decade has been the effects of
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) on the environment. The politics of the
subject and our introduction of the substance to the atmosphere is
the latest debate. This article will not tell you what to think on
the matter, it will only provide for you some background as to the
possible influence of, or lack thereof, CO2 on climate change and
specifically, global warming. After reading this and performing
for yourself, the experiments outlined; it will be up to you to
form an opinion and act on it as you see fit. |
Articles by Art Ryan
Don't miss other articles by the author:
Art Ryan's official
website: www.sciencedoubts.com
and his Blog:
http://sciencedoubt.blogspot.com/
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Carbon Dioxide is a substance that is heavier than oxygen. This
weight difference is the enabling factor in plant life’s food
cycle. The heavier CO2 settles down around the ground which allows
plants to absorb the gas for sustenance. These plants process the
CO2 and emit oxygen as waste. This oxygen, being lighter than the
CO2, rises up and away from the plants allowing more CO2 to fill
the void. The food (life) cycle is simple.
With a basic understanding of CO2 and its affect on plant life
in place, it is now time to look at some practical applications.
First, remember terrariums, mini eco-systems set up in large jars?
To complete this experiment you will need one. The type of plants
inside is not important. It just needs to be established as a
living system. You will need a second, exact lid for the jar that
you used to make the terrarium. This additional lid will need to
be modified for the safety of the experiment. Please follow the
below instructions that will protect against the expansion
pressures during the experiment. Without allowing for this
pressure, a risk of serious injury exists.
- Drill a small hole, ¼” or less in the second lid.
- Thread a rubber/latex balloon through a steel washer with a
hole size similar to that drilled in the lid.
- Position the balloon opening and washer flat on the second
lid directly over the hole that you drilled.
- Mix up and apply some epoxy, such as JB Weld, around the
washer to fasten it to the lid. Follow the instructions on the
epoxy’s package and allow sufficient time for its complete
hardening. The important thing here is to ensure that a leak
proof seal is achieved.
You are now ready for the experiment to be set into motion. You
have a mini eco-system and a lid prepared that will allow for the
increase in internal pressure that will arise during the practical
application. You now need to obtain some dry ice, which is
entirely CO2 in the frozen form. As you may have guessed, we
intend to introduce this ice to our terrarium and see what
happens.
Use extreme caution not to touch the dry ice with any exposed
portion of your body. Protective clothing is highly recommended.
This clothing includes: Face Shield, Protective Gloves, and Apron
and your personal wear that you would, appropriately, don prior to
going outside in the winter. Now break or saw off a chunk of the
dry ice that will have a base, once set down, that is about 4”
square that will still fit through the jar’s opening. The
remainder of the dry ice can be used in the next experiment, if
you have done the preparation work already. This will save some
money, so it is recommended that both experiments are conducted at
the same time.
Once you have a piece of dry ice sized correctly and the second
lid at the ready, open the terrarium and place the dry ice inside,
anywhere. Then cover the jar’s opening with the second lid that
you have modified. This experiment is now set into motion.
As the dry ice melts, a transfer of energy will take place and
will be displayed as a fog throughout the jar. The balloon that
you attached to the lid will expand to relieve the pressure on the
glass walls. However, the CO2 will remain inside the eco-system.
The proportion of CO2 will far exceed that found in our normal
atmosphere.
The first thing that you will notice is that the fog will drop
to the surface around the plants and then dissipate as the
temperature of your terrarium equalizes with the surrounding area.
It will eventually reach room temp. You will then notice that the
plant life that was in close proximity to the dry ice has died
from the freezing temperatures. This is O.K. provided other plants
remain alive and vibrant.
As time goes by, the plants will flourish much like you have
introduced some form of fertilizer. Your plants will love the
extra CO2. They will thrive in the CO2 saturated environment; that
they will process into oxygen. It is possible, that given enough
time, the plants would die as a result of oxygen poisoning, when
the supply of CO2 is depleted.
The second experiment requires a small Folding Table, some
Plastic Sheeting, and some Duct Tape. Lay the plastic out on the
floor. In the middle of the plastic, place the folding table with
its legs extended, upside down. Pull the excess plastic up and
over the legs of the table in the same fashion as gift wrapping.
Allow the plastic that would cover the top to fall inside the
makeshift box (tank) that you have created. Utilize duct tape to
ensure that the plastic remains in place. You will need to fold
the corners of the plastic upward to prevent anything from flowing
out of the containment area you have just manufactured.
If you have leftover dry ice from the first experiment (you
should have if you bought a five pound block), place it in the
bottom of your home-made tank. A substitute for the dry ice is a
tank of pressurized CO2 that is used at a soda fountain. A
push-button pop delivery system like the ones in a bar use this
bottled gas. You can ask them where to procure one. This bottled
gas will require a hose attached to the valve on one end and the
placement of the other end in the bottom of your tank in order to
introduce the CO2 to the test area. Should you desire to see this
practical application on video, you can purchase Exodus Earth:
Venus by visiting this site's shopping mall and surfing through
the Discovery Store.
Now, if you have placed your leftover dry ice in the tank, you
will see the fog it produces as it melts. This will help you to
know what level the gas has achieved in the tank. You will not be
able to determine this easily if you use bottled CO2. If the gas
exceeds the size of the containment area, that is O.K. See this
MSDS. In this application, the gas is pretty harmless. However,
use caution not to suffocate yourself. The CO2 will displace your
breathable air.
If a fog was visualized, this will disappear as the CO2
achieves room temperature. The final appearance of the gas will be
invisible. It will still be inside your make-shift tank. The next
step will confirm that.
You will need to blow up a rubber/latex balloon using your own
breath. The use of your lungs to inflate the balloon is to ensure
a mixture of gases found in the atmosphere are present in the
balloon. The ratio of CO2 will be higher and the oxygen will be
lower than normal due to your body processing the air. However,
this will compound the effects that result from you doing the
experiment.
Everything is ready. Attempt to place your inflated balloon,
which has been tied off to seal, at the bottom of your containment
area. Release it and watch what happens.
This author is fond of saying “Dumb questions can destroy good
theories.” That thought can be expanded to communicate that “One
scientific idea can ruin another.” Such is what apparently happens
when conducting this second experiment.
In the show, Exodus Earth: Venus, a scientist develops an idea
on how to colonize the planet Venus. The problems to overcome are
numerous. They range from temperature, to pressure, and most
notably for this article, the CO2 content of the atmosphere. The
scientist proposes that a colony could live and operate in an
air-filled balloon (zeppelin) well above the surface of the
planet. During the show, he conducts the very same experiment to
show his theories validity. A balloon filled with air floats above
CO2.
There was no intent by the scientist or those associated with
the show to say that the experiment created doubt about CO2’s
effect on our environment. That was just a side effect of the
demonstration. “One scientific idea…”
So, Where do we stand now?
Well, for those who support the idea that our carbon output is
destroying our living conditions, you will need to develop answers
for the questions that arise from the above. A process for
allowing CO2 to rise up and remain high in the atmosphere in order
to facilitate the global warming that is claimed to be happening
needs to be found.
Before supporters simply claim that heated CO2 will rise
similar to heated air, you must be informed that it is true that
heated CO2 will rise in cooler CO2. However, heated CO2 in our
normal atmosphere will perform a thermo transfer of stored energy
(heat) much too quickly to allow it to achieve the altitudes
required to affect our environment. This is the result of CO2’s
thermal transfer characteristics compared to the other substances
in our air.
CO2 is used as a refrigerant to achieve extremely low
temperatures. Sabroe, a company in Europe has incorporated CO2
into its industrial refrigerators in order to reach temps as low
as -53° C. This is possible due to the CO2’s ability to absorb
heat/energy and quickly and efficiently disperse it to other
substances. In a nutshell, CO2 can not easily hold heat; thereby
it is highly unlikely that CO2 can heat up and rise very far from
the surface of our planet.
These dilemmas cause one to sit back and ponder whether or not
enough testing has been conducted on the matter. There is now some
doubt as to the purity of air samples that have been evaluated. It
is distinctly possible that new testing should be performed to
determine the validity of CO2’s effect on climate change. It is
proposed here that a controlled environment should be used to
determine if it is possible for CO2 to defy gravity long enough to
affect our atmosphere. A controlled experiment with the
introduction of large amounts of CO2 could be conducted inside of
a biosphere to make the determination.
For those who have beliefs that human introduced CO2 has had no
effect on our atmosphere, you now have some simple practical
applications that you can site to drive home your point. It
becomes important, at this point, who you are talking to. Tell
them CO2 is heavier/denser than oxygen as you main point.
There can be little doubt that climate change happens. Further,
it is doubtful that the spending of vast amounts of money to
prevent our demise is wasted. However, throwing monetary units at
the wrong target is not a wise idea. The above article has shown
that we may be targeting the wrong thing and, not withstanding the
politics of the matter, it is time to actually perform some
scientific experiments on the subject.
In my book, “Are We Worth Our Salt?” you will find a new target
at which we can direct our efforts. This target and the process
that it utilizes is gaining acceptance and finding more and more
empirical evidence that support its theory. If you are interested
in climate change, it is a must read.
Copyright Arthur Ryan 2010
Presented with permission of the author
Articles by Art Ryan
Don't miss other articles by the author:
Art Ryan's official
website: www.sciencedoubts.com
and his Blog:
http://sciencedoubt.blogspot.com/
About the Author
Arthur “Art” Ryan is an independent researcher and
author, who is a full-time employee supporting a major railroad
and a small business owner of a process engineering consulting
company, that enjoys all manner of things science. He is a
baseball and football fan, who values his privacy and therefore
writes under a pseudonym.
His book concerning Earth Changes is called “Are We
Worth Our Salt?” which can be purchased through Lulu by visiting
http://stores.lulu.com/arthurryan or
Amazon and may be procured at you local Barnes and Noble
store.
Art accepts constructive criticism about his ideas
and welcomes evidence that support or dispute his thoughts.
Questions and comments can be addressed to Art through his
official website
www.sciencedoubts.com
At his site, Art has opened a controlled, closed
forum where intellectuals, professionals, academics, and aspiring
amateurs can express their thoughts, findings, and alternate
theories under pseudonyms; thereby avoiding possible damage to
their careers or loss of existing funding. This site is to be
driven by its users and will grow to fit the need. Those
interested in writing on Science Doubt are invited to review the
“Outstanding Questions” and “News Articles” sections for topic
ideas or to contact the editor about your own.
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Are We Worth Our Salt?
Have you ever wondered what is behind some of the World's
mysteries? Do you ponder Earth changes and natural climate
swings? If so, this is a book for you. Addressed herein is a
primary thought that when first published by another author
"electrified" Albert Einstein.
Yet, a cause for the theory was not previously given. This
book will show the process steps needed to bring it to
culmination. A cause and effect approach will be brought
into play to solve this dramatic puzzle. Our Civilization is
on the line and it requires your assistance to save it. Are
you up to the challenge?
Also available here:
http://stores.lulu.com/arthurryan
ISBN 978-0-6152-1270-8
ID: 2469512 |
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