Where the Buffalo Roam
Yes, buffalo, because there were nearly 60 million of them living on the prairies of North America. How much CO₂ did they produce before they were wiped out? This question and many more are answered here.
Atmospheric CO₂
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The answer is 3,380 billion tons. Man-made CO₂ emissions are about 40 billion tons per year. This equates to 1.18% of man-made CO₂ being added to the atmosphere each year. The annual global carbon cycle (GCC) removes some of this CO2 from the atmosphere.
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4.9% of atmospheric CO₂ is anthropogenic. Most of this CO₂ comes from the use of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal.
The value of 4.9% comes from the annual global carbon cycle (GCC). The GCC releases about 770 billion tonnes of CO₂ yearly, and human-made CO₂ adds another 40 billion tonnes. However, this value has nothing to do with the total amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere. The total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is around 3,380 billion tons.
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During the last glacial maximum, CO₂ levels were about 180 ppm, whereas levels in 1800 A.D. – just prior to the Industrial Revolution – were at about 280 parts per million.
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Global sea level rose by a total of more than 120 metres as the vast ice sheets of the last Ice Age melted back. This melt-back lasted from about 19,000 to about 6,000 years ago, meaning that the average rate of sea-level rise was roughly 1 metre per century.
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Oceans in the northern and southern latitudes absorb more CO₂ because colder water has a higher degree of CO₂ solubility. Durning the last ice age some ocean regions where as much as 5°C colder than the mid-latitudes. This caused CO₂ levels to fall to levels of about 180 ppm.
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Although a CO₂ molecule is heavier than the molecules of nitrogen and oxygen that make up most of the atmosphere, gravity does not cause CO₂ to simply fall to the ground and form a layer of gas. Atmospheric molecules are in constant, extremely rapid random motion and collide with one another trillions of times per second. At the same time, convection, wind and turbulence continually mix the atmosphere vertically and horizontally. Gravity does cause a very slight tendency for heavier molecules to be more concentrated toward lower altitudes, but in the well-mixed lower atmosphere this effect is overwhelmed by molecular motion and atmospheric mixing. Only at very high altitudes, where the atmosphere becomes extremely thin and turbulent mixing becomes weak, does molecular weight produce significant separation of the gases. This is why CO₂ remains thoroughly mixed throughout the atmosphere rather than forming a layer on the ground.
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Oxygen makes up 21% of the atmosphere. In fact, oxygen levels have remained stable for the past 150 years, with only a slight decrease since the use of fossil fuels for combustion began. Although CO₂ levels have risen, the measured decline in oxygen is so small that it will not affect the amount of air we need to breathe. For a complete breakdown of the atmospheric composition, please visit the NOAA website via the link below.
Agricultural CO₂
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Plants absorb CO₂ durning the day and release O₂ in the process. At night plants release CO₂ and absorb O₂.
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The answer is about 4.45 billion metric tons of CO₂ a year.
– 1 cow produces 6,137 liters of CO₂ per day
– 1 billion cows will produce 6137 trillion liters of CO₂ per day
– 6137 trillion liters of CO₂ = 12,151,260 Tonnes (metric ton) per day
– For a yearly output of 4.45 billion metric tons of CO₂
Source Link Population
Source Link CO₂ Cow production -
Nobody really knows because nobody ever measured it.
Miscellaneous CO₂
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The carbon footprint was originally a brilliantly deceptive fabrication of the fossil fuel industry. Here’s the irony: a marketing campaign for BP (British Petroleum), one of the largest oil companies in the world, first coined and then popularized the term ‘carbon footprint’ in 2004.
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Average liter of Coke contains 6 g of CO₂. The carbonated part is purified carbon dioxide, which gives the drink its “bubbles” or “fizz”. Sugar – Coca-Cola Classic’s sweet taste (and also some of its mouthfeel) comes from sugar.
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The CO2 used in soft drinks are primarily a byproduct of industrial recovery from natural gas or coal-fueled plants. Other sources also include large fermentation operations such as breweries and plants that make ethanol for automobile fuel or industrial uses.
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History of CO₂
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Scottish chemist, Joseph Black in 1754. Black notices that upon heating, calcium carbonate produced a gas (CaCO3) that was denser than air and could not sustain fire or animal life. He called this gas "fixed air", however it is now known this gas was carbon dioxide.
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Anthropogenic CO₂
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Aviation is responsible for about 2% of man-made CO₂ emissions.*
95.1% of CO₂ is naturally occurring and 4.9% of CO₂ is man-made. Aviation plays a very minor role in the emission of CO₂ into the atmosphere. Jet fuel is a flammable hydrocarbon liquid derived from petroleum. The transport sector accounts for 34% of total combined fossil fuel consumption. Of this, road transport accounts for 77%, aviation for 12%, shipping for 10% and railways for 1%.
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Disclaimer
All statistics used to create the CO₂ values are from the sources provided. The values are from the time of publication. Values may change in the future as new data comes to light. We take no responsibility for the data provided by these sources.