Re: For Those Who Enjoy Discussing Climate Change..... Not Chess Related
CO2 is both a cause of climate change and a result, the two are intimately connected. Fundamental spectroscopy of the CO2 molecule shows that for infrared radiation (heat) there is strong absorption of energy (this energy goes into excitation of the rotational, vibrational, and stretching of the molecular bonds in the molecule), thus the greenhouse effect for this molecule and the cause of climate change. Also, the concentration of this molecule in the atmosphere is dynamically changing as multiple processes either produce it or take it up, i.e. all flora (vegetation) absorbs it to grow and all fauna (animals) emit it through respiration. Rainwater falling absorbs CO2 and it reacts chemically with rocks over long periods of time and becomes part of their composition, while volcanism releases lots of carbon in the form of CO2 to recharge the atmosphere with it. When climate change occurs for whatever reason and there is warming then CO2 is released from various sources. For example the oceans absorb a lot of it, but as they warm they absorb less, so more is in the atmosphere. Biological decomposition in the presence of oxygen (aerobic decomposition: in soils for example, or other surface layers of earth exposed to oxygen, i.e. decaying vegetation on forest floors) produces CO2 while biological decomposition in the absence of oxygen (anerobic decomposition: in swamps or frozen now in tundra or permafrost or locked in clathrates) produces CH4.
Thus, warming releases more CO2 and CH4 in an inticately connected positive feedback loop.
CO2 is both a cause of climate change and a result, the two are intimately connected. Fundamental spectroscopy of the CO2 molecule shows that for infrared radiation (heat) there is strong absorption of energy (this energy goes into excitation of the rotational, vibrational, and stretching of the molecular bonds in the molecule), thus the greenhouse effect for this molecule and the cause of climate change. Also, the concentration of this molecule in the atmosphere is dynamically changing as multiple processes either produce it or take it up, i.e. all flora (vegetation) absorbs it to grow and all fauna (animals) emit it through respiration. Rainwater falling absorbs CO2 and it reacts chemically with rocks over long periods of time and becomes part of their composition, while volcanism releases lots of carbon in the form of CO2 to recharge the atmosphere with it. When climate change occurs for whatever reason and there is warming then CO2 is released from various sources. For example the oceans absorb a lot of it, but as they warm they absorb less, so more is in the atmosphere. Biological decomposition in the presence of oxygen (aerobic decomposition: in soils for example, or other surface layers of earth exposed to oxygen, i.e. decaying vegetation on forest floors) produces CO2 while biological decomposition in the absence of oxygen (anerobic decomposition: in swamps or frozen now in tundra or permafrost or locked in clathrates) produces CH4.
Thus, warming releases more CO2 and CH4 in an inticately connected positive feedback loop.
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