Carbon Dioxide is not Carbon

Carawaystick

Hi can we all use carbon dioxide emissions as this is what's usually meant.

I've just read a thread about pumping Moneypoint emissions into a gasfield.
These were referred to as carbon emissions, another poster referred to Carbon Monoxide emissions from cars in Mexico and then they were referred to correctly as carbon dioxide

If anyone's still confused look at Dry ice or fizzy water and look at coal or pencil leads

fits

These discussions are all about the transferring of carbon from the earth to the atmosphere. It doesnt make a difference what term is used really.

Scofflaw

It's also generally the case that we're talking about CO2 equivalent - greenhouse gases generally.

cordially,
Scofflaw

pauln

In industry just the word carbon is used a lot and it's taken that it is CO2 people are talking about.

ChocolateSauce

Plus, even if people were talking literally about the solid carbon, it is a fine particulate matter which contributes to smog, so reducing it would still apply.

blackbox

pauln wrote: »

In industry just the word carbon is used a lot and it's taken that it is CO2 people are talking about.

and what industry would that be?

DirkVoodoo

Its pretty simple. The burning of any carbon based fuel will invariably produce carbon dioxide.

So, when people talk about "carbon emissions", "carbon footprint", they are of course referring to the carbon dioxide produced by our dependency on carbon based fuels.

It ain't so hard to understand.

pauln

blackbox wrote: »

and what industry would that be?

The energy industry. If someone talks about carbon or carbon credits the first thing your going to think is reducing your CO2 emissions. After that there are also the other carbon containing greenhouse gases but they don't tend to play as a big part in power generation.

Cookie_Monster

Carawaystick wrote: »

another poster referred to Carbon Monoxide emissions from cars in Mexico and then they were referred to correctly as carbon dioxide

Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide are completly different gases.

Carawaystick wrote: »

If anyone's still confused look at Dry ice or fizzy water and look at coal or pencil leads

CO2 has carbon in it hence the usage of the name, the O(2) part is hardly the problem now is it?

ChocolateSauce

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

CO2 has carbon in it hence the usage of the name, the O(2) part is hardly the problem now is it?

Actually, it is the O part that is the problem, not the carbon. It isn't carbon that causes heat retention, it is the bonds between the C and the O's. O=C=O is the shape of the molecule, and when light hits the bonds, it is reflected. This happens again and again, and so the heat is retained. If it were just carbon, there'd be no bonds to retain heat and we wouldn't be talking about it. In short, C by itself is no problem, O2 by itself is no problem, but when you put them together, you have a problem.

lostexpectation

do all bonds reflect heat then?

ChocolateSauce

lostexpectation wrote: »

do all bonds reflect heat then?

I don't know. If they do, some don't do it enough to even be measurable, let alone important. The O=O bond in oxygen doesn't seem to be a greenhouse-gas bond, as it were.

N2O, nitrous oxide, the N=N=O bond is 100 times more reflective than the bonds in O=C=O, for example. Compare this to Methane, which is a mere 25 times more potent than CO2. The exact way the bonds work elude me (for now), but it is the bonds between atoms and not the atoms themselves which cause heat retention. In general, it is because the bonds absorb a photon of light (usually between the UV-Infrared specturm, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum) and then re-emits them. With molecules that have a tendency to do this, the heat is continually re-emited inside the atmosphere and thus builds up. With non-greenhouse gasses, the light passes through them, hits the surface of the earth and it reflected into space.

That being said, particulate carbon contributes to smog and is the cause of the black lung in coal miners.

In case anyone is wondering, I'm a dedicated 3rd year chemistry single major. I'm not an expert on global warming however, and in something as complex at the atmosphere there are many factors, some I surely am not ever aware of.