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What is the change in the amount of carbon dioxide in the air over the last 50 years?
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Atmospheric CO2 has gone from something on the order of 310 ppm (parts per million) to over 380 ppm in the last 50 years. That's about a 20% increase. In just 50 years. A graph from Wikipedia is linked. Go look. Can anything be more plain than that we, the people, are making more CO2 and making it more quickly than it was made before?
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
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What is an increase in CO2?
This means an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. There is a normal balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Trees and green plants soak it up, and then when the trees rot or are burnt the carbon dioxide goes back into the atmosphere. However, more than 200 years ago we began seriously burning coal and oil. This released carbon dioxide that had been trapped millions of years ago. So over the years the amount of this gas in the atmosphere has been increasing. Most climate scientists agree that this increase in carbon dioxide is contributing to climate change and global warming.
How does the greenhouse effect increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
The greenhouse effect does not increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect happens because of the carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere.It is the burning of fossil fuels that increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Burning coal, oil and natural gas releases age-old carbon dioxide that was laid down underground millions of years ago, so letting it free now puts an impossible burden on the carbon cycle, which cannot remove it.
What proof does the U.S. have that carbon dioxide levels have increased in the last 50 years?
We can measure the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Because carbon dioxide mixes well the measurement is about the same all over the world. Recently we have just reached 400 ppm (parts per million) or 0.04%.
How much co2 does a tree absorb per year?
Almost half the mass of a tree is carbon, taken from the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. A tree only takes in carbon when it is growing, and the amount that a tree grows in a year varies from tree to tree. Old trees are bigger and grow more than young trees in a year, usually.
How has the percentage of carbon dioxide changed in the last 4500 million years?
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What is an increase in CO2?
This means an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. There is a normal balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Trees and green plants soak it up, and then when the trees rot or are burnt the carbon dioxide goes back into the atmosphere. However, more than 200 years ago we began seriously burning coal and oil. This released carbon dioxide that had been trapped millions of years ago. So over the years the amount of this gas in the atmosphere has been increasing. Most climate scientists agree that this increase in carbon dioxide is contributing to climate change and global warming.
How does the greenhouse effect increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
The greenhouse effect does not increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect happens because of the carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere.It is the burning of fossil fuels that increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Burning coal, oil and natural gas releases age-old carbon dioxide that was laid down underground millions of years ago, so letting it free now puts an impossible burden on the carbon cycle, which cannot remove it.
What is the problem with a small increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere?
A small amount of carbon dioxide is all it takes to keep the earth comfortably warm for millions of years. A small increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is all it takes to cause global warming and threaten the future of the human race.
What effect does fuel have on the amount of carbon dioxide in the air?
Most of our fuel is fossil fuel, that is, coal, oil and natural gas. When these are used for fuel (by burning) they release carbon which has been stored in them for millions of years. This is adding to the amount of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere.
What does the Fourth Report of the IPCC say about levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
The Fourth Report of the IPCC (The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Climate Change 2007, said:The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2005 (379 ppm) exceeds by far the natural range of the last 650,000 years (180 to 300 ppm).
Starting billions of years ago algae lowered the levels in the atmosphere?
Carbon Dioxide
How many years to recycle carbon dioxide?
None. Plants recycle carbon dioxide continuously.
How does respiration affect the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
Respiration, breathing, has no effect on the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is part of the natural carbon cycle. Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) releases carbon dioxide that has been hidden away for millions of years. This extra gas is increasing in the atmosphere.
What proof does the U.S. have that carbon dioxide levels have increased in the last 50 years?
We can measure the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Because carbon dioxide mixes well the measurement is about the same all over the world. Recently we have just reached 400 ppm (parts per million) or 0.04%.
How would the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere change if their is no plants?
There would be significantly more CO2 in the atmosphere because plants take in CO2 during photosynthesis and fix the carbon into glucose.
How much co2 does a tree absorb per year?
Almost half the mass of a tree is carbon, taken from the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. A tree only takes in carbon when it is growing, and the amount that a tree grows in a year varies from tree to tree. Old trees are bigger and grow more than young trees in a year, usually.
Why did the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stay constant for thousands of years?
The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stayed constant for thousands of years because of the carbon cycle, which moves carbon throughout the air, oceans and land. There was also no burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), and nobody had cut down the great forests of the world.
