Post by asiaticdarkperson on Mar 11, 2012 8:01:39 GMT -5
So these three elements, Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen make up the bulk of the earth's living mass. We've got CO2, H2O and O2 flowing through organic cells made of essentially CHO. And there's also certain stockpiles of reserve C, H and O on earth; these are not included in the ongoing real-time cycle of life. They are coal, oil, natural gas, etc.
When natural gas (methane) burns it decomposes through oxidation; CH4 => CO2 + 2H2O. So basically, by burning oil and gas we are releasing a huge amount of CO2 and water into the atmosphere.
The concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere and their relative ratios have been more or less constant and stable for a very long time. As a matter of fact, as oil accumulated over millions of years so did the overall amount of C, H and O included in the biosphere decrease.
Now, over a span of a hundred years we have added a monumental amount of these reserves back into the game.. How much natural gas have we burned? How much gasoline? Who can calculate the exact mass of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen that we've added to the earth's biomass?
The other question is if these can even be incorporated into the biomass so quickly as they are being released.
Photosynthesizing organisms are the only part of the biosphere which absorbs CO2 into the flow; plants take the Carbon and incorporate it into their biome. Other creatures then eat the plants and continue the flow.
I think an increase in CHO basically implies a bigger overall biomass on earth; but many species have been going extinct recently and the forest cover of the earth has also been shrinking. This essentially means that there are less organisms available today to utilize this new biomass.
I happen to believe that the biosphere is a system of critical mass; the existence of oil reserves to me implies that the earth controls and manages its biomass. I also happen to believe that from the earth's perspective, the only reason man exists is to release all these trillions upons trillions of tons of CHO back into the life cycle; I think oil was put there for us to burn once we reached sufficient technological requirements.
I don't believe anyone can predict what is going to happen; nothing like this has EVER happened before. Up til now C-reserves have been generally only accumulating, and for at least a billion years or so. Now we're just releasing billion year old reserves back into the environment.
When natural gas (methane) burns it decomposes through oxidation; CH4 => CO2 + 2H2O. So basically, by burning oil and gas we are releasing a huge amount of CO2 and water into the atmosphere.
The concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere and their relative ratios have been more or less constant and stable for a very long time. As a matter of fact, as oil accumulated over millions of years so did the overall amount of C, H and O included in the biosphere decrease.
Now, over a span of a hundred years we have added a monumental amount of these reserves back into the game.. How much natural gas have we burned? How much gasoline? Who can calculate the exact mass of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen that we've added to the earth's biomass?
The other question is if these can even be incorporated into the biomass so quickly as they are being released.
Photosynthesizing organisms are the only part of the biosphere which absorbs CO2 into the flow; plants take the Carbon and incorporate it into their biome. Other creatures then eat the plants and continue the flow.
I think an increase in CHO basically implies a bigger overall biomass on earth; but many species have been going extinct recently and the forest cover of the earth has also been shrinking. This essentially means that there are less organisms available today to utilize this new biomass.
I happen to believe that the biosphere is a system of critical mass; the existence of oil reserves to me implies that the earth controls and manages its biomass. I also happen to believe that from the earth's perspective, the only reason man exists is to release all these trillions upons trillions of tons of CHO back into the life cycle; I think oil was put there for us to burn once we reached sufficient technological requirements.
I don't believe anyone can predict what is going to happen; nothing like this has EVER happened before. Up til now C-reserves have been generally only accumulating, and for at least a billion years or so. Now we're just releasing billion year old reserves back into the environment.