In fact, carbon is necessary to all life. Carbon is an element present in all organic material and is not, in itself, a bad thing.
Please see Figure 1 and 2 to see how the molecule vibrates to absorb, and re-emit infrared radiation.Ĭarbon is the buzzword when talking about emissions, and because of this it is important to know the difference between carbon and carbon dioxide. This infrared radiation is what causes increased temperatures. Ĭarbon dioxide lets visible light through but its ability to vibrate on a molecular scale causes CO 2 to absorb infrared radiation. It is not easy to calculate how long carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere after emission. CO 2 is used as a benchmark for this scale, hence carbon dioxide has a GWP value of 1. The global warming potential (GWP) scale is a measurement of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere. Chemically, carbon dioxide is one of the two main outputs in any form of combustion (the other being water). These fuels undergo combustion-which produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct. This is mainly due to humans digging carbon (in the form of fossil fuels) out of the ground and releasing it into the atmosphere. However, recently there has been a huge net increase in the levels of atmospheric and oceanic CO 2. The total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has historically been in balance with the respiration of animals and plants. It is also a greenhouse gas.Ĭarbon dioxide (see Figure 1) is taken out of the atmosphere by photosynthesis in plants to produce energy, and chemical uptake by the ocean (leading to ocean acidification). Ĭarbon dioxide ( CO 2) is a naturally occurring gas, important to the carbon cycle for life and a byproduct of many forms of energy production. Carbon dioxide is able to interact with infrared radiation, leading to an imbalance of radiation entering and leaving the atmosphere.
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