Thursday 14 August 2014

An average temperature?


One temperature?


The temperature differences which are producing higher CO2 could be quite subtle.
As previously discussed, while you can manufacture an “average” global ocean temperature, averaged over a huge number of situations even over one day and across a planet and seasons, even years, no actual place has that temperature. It is like a stopped clock being right twice a day. It does not mean it is working.
The idea of an average temperature for the planet or the earth or the sky or the oceans may not be enough to explain what is happening on a smaller scale at which thing actually happen. The world result is the sum of a lot of local results with local conditions. For example and as previously shown, CO2 will be higher at ocean hot spots and presumably lower over cold spots. Who knows what is going on in a storm?
No it is possible that a shift upwards of even 1 degree in say the cooler parts of the ocean would produce a 50% increase in CO2. You would hardly notice this in a world average.
The other aspect of the exchange depicted by Henry’s law is that this law is about laboratory situations where the air is stationary, the water is stationary without waves on the surface or currents below and the pressure is constant in the liquid and the gas. None of these conditions are met in a storm or even on a nice day. The air is generally a quite different temperature to the water. The water pressure varies dramatically from one atmosphere to 400 atmospheres as you go down. So Henry’s law is only a guide to idealized conditions, not real life. I guess I am saying when you x50 because the gaseous CO2 dissolved in the oceans is 50x as much in the air, it does not take much disturbance in temperature anywhere to have a dramatic effect, even if the notional average is unchanged.

Estimate the change in CO2 from simple ocean warming. 

However there is another way to calculate the impact, without Henry's law.  WIthout any laws as such, just the observation of the solubility of CO2 in water, something well known to lemonade manufacturers.

From graphs of the solubility of CO2 vs temperature and pressure and a reasonable 8 degrees and a 1 degree change in the temperature of the water.

A change from say 8 degrees to 9 degrees  produces a solubility reduction from 0.2492 to 0.2403 gm CO2 per 100mm of H20.    

This does not seem like much, 3.6% reduction in solubility as CO2 leaves the ocean.     However consider that 98% of the world's free gaseous CO2 is dissolved in the ocean.  If you applied this to a reservoir which is 50x as big as the atmosphere, that would increase atmospheric CO2 by 3.6% x 50 or 180%!    Conversely to get a 50% increase in 100 years, you would need a rise of only about 0.25 degrees C.


A typical solubility table as below.  

Aqueous Solubility of CO2 at 101.3 kPa (1 atm) partial pressure[9]
Temperature
Dissolved
CO2 volume
per volume H2O
grams CO2 per
100 ml H2O
0 °C
1.713
0.3346
1 °C
1.646
0.3213
2 °C
1.584
0.3091
3 °C
1.527
0.2978
4 °C
1.473
0.2871
5 °C
1.424
0.2774
6 °C
1.377
0.2681
7 °C
1.331
0.2589
8 °C
1.282
0.2492
9 °C
1.237
0.2403
10 °C
1.194
0.2318
11 °C
1.154
0.2239
12 °C
1.117
0.2165
13 °C
1.083
0.2098
14 °C
1.050
0.2032
15 °C
1.019
0.1970
16 °C
0.985
0.1903
17 °C
0.956
0.1845
   
Temperature
Dissolved
CO2 volume
per volume H2O
grams CO2 per
100 ml H2O
18 °C
0.928
0.1789
19 °C
0.902
0.1737
20 °C
0.878
0.1688
21 °C
0.854
0.1640
22 °C
0.829
0.1590
23 °C
0.804
0.1540
24 °C
0.781
0.1493
25 °C
0.759
0.1449
26 °C
0.738
0.1406
27 °C
0.718
0.1366
28 °C
0.699
0.1327
29 °C
0.682
0.1292
30 °C
0.655
0.1257
35 °C
0.592
0.1105
40 °C
0.530
0.0973
45 °C
0.479
0.0860
50 °C
0.436
0.0761

It is interesting that the change in solubility is vastly greater in colder water, say 4.5% per degree at 0C.   At 20C, it is only 3%.    This also has an impact on averages as higher values are overrepresented in an average against the median.  

To use this table to show why an 'average' temperature is a silly thing, if say the cooler waters are warmed by 1C while the warmer waters are cooled by 1C, the notional average does not move but the CO2 from cooler waters is substantially increased over the increased absorption of CO2 in the warmer waters, giving a nett effect of an increase in CO2 of 4.5/3 of 50%.
Averages are deceptive.   For example if you answer the question whether the sun was up, using light as your sole measure, you could say on average it was a bright day (with average half light intensity).   It would be a lie.



Tuesday 12 August 2014

Humans are part of the CO2 cycle of life


Without CO2, life on earth as we know it would not exist. In fact CO2 was critically low for plants and the slight increase is fantastic. The very idea that a trace gas could change the temperature of a planet is a fantasy.
The temperature is affected the nett energy of radiation in and out and from satellite measurements the radiation out is just fine, so the whole idea is nonsense.

Apart from Calcium for our bones and water, we are 86% Carbon by weight, the same as plants and all life on earth. CO2 is not just good for us, we are made entirely from CO2 and water. We are carbon life forms.
My point is that plants are all CH2 or 12 + 2*1 or 12/14ths carbon by weight, apart from water. 86%. Your get all your food from plants or from animals which live on plants or animals which live on animals which live on plants. You are made entirely from plants and plants are made entirely from CO2 and H2O. A favorite line is that I am a second degree vegetarian. I only eat animals which eat plants. (except for fish which are almost entirely carnivorous)

I had a comment that we were 65% Oxygen, so we could not be made from CO2 and carbon could not possibly be 86% of our bodies.   The following was given in support of these ideas

From this link.

65%OxygenThis element is obviously the most important element in the human body. Oxygen atoms are present in water, which is the compound most common in the body, and other compounds that make up tissues. It is also found in the blood and lungs due to respiration.
18.6%CarbonCarbon is found in every organic molecule in the body, as well as the waste product of respiration (carbon dioxide). It is typically ingested in food that is eaten.
9.7%HydrogenHydrogen is found in all water molecules in the body as well as many other compounds making up the various tissues.
3.2%NitrogenNitrogen is very common in proteins and organic compounds. It is also present in the lungs due to its abundance in the atmosphere.
1.8%CalciumCalcium is a primary component of the skeletal system, including the teeth. It is also found in the nervous system, muscles, and the blood.
1.0%PhosphorusThis element is common in the bones and teeth, as well as nucleic acids.
0.4%PotassiumPotassium is found in the muscles, nerves, and certain tissues.
0.2%SodiumSodium is excreted in sweat, but is also found in muscles and nerves.
0.2%ChlorineChlorine is present in the skin and facilitates water absorption by the cells.
0.06%MagnesiumMagnesium serves as a cofactor for various enzymes in the body.
0.04%SulfurSulfur is present in many amino acids and proteins.
0.007%IronIron is found mostly in the blood since it facilitates the transportation of oxygen.
0.0002%IodineIodine is found in certain hormones in the thyroid gland.


However you have to take out the H20, which is all your Oxygen. Dried we do not weigh much and burn like paper. So using the figures.

Oxygen 65%    Let us say in the form H2O
Carbon 18.6%  Let us say in the form of CH2 chains
Hydrogen 9.7%
Calcium 1.8%
Now some simple arithmetic to see if the ideas are right
First Oxygen

   H2O is 2+16, so the 65% of Oxygen in the form of H2O. So we should have 2/18*65 of Hydrogen or 7.22% Hydrogen.
Now Carbon
     The hydrocarbons are all CH2 chains, so 12+2 and the Carbon so we should add 2/14th of Hydrogen or 2.57%.
So if I am right the total amount of Hydrogen should be 7.22+2.57 = 9.77%. Voila!  

What this means is that almost all of the oxygen in your system is H2O, water.   It also confirms that the rest of the hydrogens are almost entirely in the form CH2, or I was just lucky.
Everyone is made from plants which are made from CO2 and in photosynthesis, they produce hydrocarbons like CH2 from which all your muscles, cartilage, nerves, all tissues are made.

Also note that I wrote made from CO2 and Water. I stand by that. I did not say made of CO2 and Water.
The show that people are 75% water by weight.   People are made of H2O and CH2 and Calcium. That’s 93.3% all up.
You could say truly that you would not be there without the water but there is almost no Oxygen otherwise.

Personally I find this really challenging and far from obvious.

Our preconception from childhood is that trees and plants are made from dirt and people are made from dirt too. Dust to dust. It is just not true. The trick is the phrase “made from”. We are just not “made from” dirt. Children need to repeat the Van Helmont experiment to understand. Then we would not have this CO2 hatred in the alleged Greens. It is self loathing.

It is ironic, that plants use sunlight to convert CO2 to CH2 chains, hydrocarbons from which we are made but that the O2 goes into the atmosphere for us to breathe. In breathing we reverse the process and use the O2 to burn the hydrocarbons in plants, getting back that original energy from sunlight and the original CO2.

Eventually we turn back into CO2 and CH4, feeding another cycle, not just carbon but a life which revolves around the processing of CO2 to O2 and back to CO2. Even our industrial energy is mostly old sunlight, burning a million years of rotted plant matter every year.

Dirt is largely oxides of metals like silicon, aluminium, iron. We do each have about a six inch nail of iron and small amounts of potassium, sodium, sulphur and chlorine. NaCl and KCL run our electrics and both are critical for nerve activity. HCl digests our food.

However we are far from rocks and hardly anything is made from the stuff of dirt. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust is really incorrect. CO2 to life to CO2 is much more accurate.

So while this is a long comment, I have not read anywhere else that we and all plant life are in a closed CO2 cycle. If there was no CO2, we would not exist.