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.


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