According to wikipedia (CO2):
As of January 2007, the earth’s atmospheric CO2 concentration is about 0.0383% by volume (383 ppmv) or 0.0582% by weight. This represents about 2.996×1012 tonnes, and is estimated to be 105 ppm (37.77%) above the pre-industrial average.
CO2 concentration by weight is obtained by the formula below:
0.0383 V% x [44.0095/28.97] = 0.0582 m% CO2
whereby molar mass=44.0095 g/mole
and mean molar mass of air=28.97 g/mole
Then, to obtain the total mass of CO2, via wikipedia: according to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, “The total mean mass of the atmosphere is 5.1480×1018 kg.
Thus, the total weight of CO2 = 0.0582% x 5.1480 x 1015 tonnes
= 2.996×1012 tonnes.
By applying the same formula, 4 other different values of CO2 concentration at different timeline as listed in the table below. Year 1750 is used for pre-industrial era (Industrial Revolution), 310 ppmv is obtained via the graph in 1960, and 2 predictions for year 2100 done by IPCC. The corresponding CO2 by total weight is calculated.
From year 1750 to 1960, additional 250 000 million tonnes CO2, or at the rate of 1190.48 million tonnes per year are added into atmosphere.
From year 1960 to 2007, another 570 000 million tonnes of CO2 are dumped into atmosphere, at much higher rate: 12127.7 million tonnes per year, which is about 10 times faster than the previous 2 centuries!
As of year 2002, human activities, especially fuel burning released 24,126.1 million tonnes of CO2 per year. This number is twice (2x) higher the rate calculated above. Could it mean that half of the CO2 released by human activity is managed to absorbed by carbon sink agents and thus not accounted into the CO2 concentration reading?
Let’s look at the future. IPCC gave 2 scenarios of the CO2 concentration (ppmv) by the year of 2100, 93 years away.
- To achieve 571 ppmv, the additional CO2 needed to add into atmosphere is 1.235 ×1012 tonnes, or 13 279.6 million tonnes per year. This is half of the rate of CO2 we are releasing today.
- To achieve 970 ppmv CO2 concentration, 4.558 x 1012 tonnes CO2, or 49 333.3 million tonnes per year is released. This is twice (2x) the number on CO2 emission rate what we are doing today!
Another perspective of looking at these numbers. At 2002, human activity released 24 216.1 million tonnes of CO2. Compared to the total CO2 mass in year 1750 (assuming it is in the state of equilibrium by then), that is accounted only 1.11%. What could this number mean?
CO2 Concentration and Weight in Atmosphere « small-m said,
March 31, 2007 at 4:07 am
[...] Monthly atmospheric CO2 records from 10 sites around the world is collected: Mauna Loa, Barrow, American Samoa, South Pole, Alert, Cape Kumukahi, Christmas Island, Baring Head, Kermadec Island, and La Jolla Pier. The concentration of CO2 in volume fraction (ppmv) is then translate into mass fraction and the weight of CO2 at particular year is then calculated (see previous post here). [...]
Monthly Reading on CO2 Atmospheric Concentration « small-m said,
April 4, 2007 at 5:21 am
[...] 5.20 to 6.60 ppmv. By converting the concentration value in ppmv, the weight of CO2 is calculated (like example here). The weight of CO2 is listed in the table [...]
C said,
January 31, 2008 at 3:02 am
Research in 2007 has proven that we have had as much as 600 ppm in the atmosphere as recently as 1942. You can find the research and papers here.
http://www.biokurs.de/treibhaus/180CO2_supp.htm
180 Years of atmospheric CO 2 Gas Analysis by Chemical Methods
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT VOLUME 18 No. 2, 2007
Billgls said,
September 12, 2008 at 1:40 am
Carbon Dioxide is heavier than air. If it covered the earth in sufficient amount to block spectrums of sunlight, would it not smother all animals on earth?
Ross Geller said,
December 16, 2009 at 4:33 pm
i am VERY satisfied with this website. i think the information was amazing and informational. Thank you!
Devin Walsh said,
December 16, 2009 at 4:34 pm
8========D~o:
Devin Walsh said,
December 16, 2009 at 4:35 pm
i love those
Ross Geller said,
December 16, 2009 at 8:58 pm
What do you love? I’m afraid that I am a bit lost.
Sources « Yet Another Atheist Blog said,
January 1, 2010 at 4:13 pm
[...] science — stone1343 @ 12:13 pm For how much the CO2 in the atmosphere weighs, best might be http://micpohling.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/math-how-much-co2-by-weight-in-the-atmosphere/ but I can outline simple calculations for you to do it (surface area of Earth * 14.7 psi air [...]
Givin’ it my best shot « Yet Another Atheist Blog said,
January 5, 2010 at 5:19 pm
[...] gigatonnes total CO2 in the atmosphere, another easily verifiable fact (here’s a reference, http://micpohling.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/math-how-much-co2-by-weight-in-the-atmosphere/ and it also lists the weight of CO2 for a few different concentrations). Wikipedia confirms both of [...]
John Higgins said,
July 13, 2010 at 9:47 am
Is it correct that humans only contribute approx 3% of the CO2 in the atmosphere and that the majority of CO2 is created by warming of the sea?
People are focused on human CO2 generation but I think population growth and the resultant deforestation is a major concern? What do you think?
It is great to see the actual tonnage of CO2 as most people cannot comprehend how much CO2 is in the atmosphere…and the alarmists always quote in absolute weight rather than percentage!!
SUGAT said,
September 15, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I want to calculate the weight (in grams) of CO2 in say 1.0 litre of Air if say the concentration of CO2 is 360 ppm.
How do I do this ?
Would you kindly let me know.
Thanks in anticipation
Sugat
Watson said,
October 17, 2010 at 2:00 am
Did no one ever notice this?
“The total mean mass of the atmosphere is 5.1480×1018 kg.
Thus, the total weight of CO2 = 0.0582% x 5.1480 x 1015 tonnes
= 2.996×1012 tonnes.
The mass of the atmosphere is magically reduced by a factor of 1000 times in the body of the calculation, and is not corrected in the final answer, which should read 2.996 x 1015 tonnes as agreed by most authorities, including Wikipedia
JD said,
February 28, 2012 at 2:50 am
Hello Watson,
there is no error here, actually, because the units were changed. The first unit was ‘kilograms’ afterwards is was expressed in ‘tonnes’, which is 1000 kg, so the exponent was reduced by 3 correctly. It’s about 3 x10^12. Which by the way about 5 hundredths of one percent of the total atmosphere.
thefaulkrum said,
February 28, 2012 at 6:35 am
so let me get this strieght, thats 3×10^12 TON. (three million millon or three trillion Tons.)
Crazy Bill said,
November 22, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Watson check your maths.
A few more numbers. Emissions are growing at 2% p.a. That means that they double every 30 years unless we do something about slowing down burning of oil and coal.
If not, the 24GT/yr in 2002 given above will be about 50GT/yr in 2040s and 100GT/yr in 2080s. The 970ppmv at 2100 isn’t improbable if things keep going the way they have been..
Mr Meh said,
December 4, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Now go and do the integration of the hubbert curve of peek oil and look at the total amount of oil produced/consumed, convert that to tonnes of CO2 assuming around 317kg per barrel. I get a figure of around 2.02 e+11 tonnes. Thats basically all thats come from oil alone since around 1900.
stephen last said,
May 14, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Thats exactly my point. How can we double our production of co2 when oil is going to peak in a couple of decades. Surely we would need to double the number of cars on the road,double the number of coal fired generators and double the amount of cement produced – I doubt that we have enough resources to do that.
steven last said,
January 19, 2011 at 6:52 pm
they wouldn,t reach those figures in 2100 because we haven,t got enough oil reserves to burn that much and the population isn,t likely to double.
Pacho Gangotena said,
May 13, 2011 at 10:51 pm
I am doing some estimations in agriculture in relation to organic matter.
I would like to know the amount (in pounds or kilos) of carbon and of CO2 in the air above an hectare (I mean, in the 10 km of atmosphere).
steve said,
June 17, 2011 at 4:47 am
This whole man caused climate change by co-2 argument is BS when the number one greenhouse gas is Water vapor an It accounts for 75% 0f the atmosphere and can vary by 4% which is 10,000 times the amount of co-2 in the atmosphere which is .0383%. I’ll give more thought into what I want for dinner than worrying about the amount of co-2 even if it doubles in the next 100 years. The pointy head academics in the world are willing to scarafice a countries ecomcomy ie USA on BS. Go to H*** A holes. For the rest of you look at the gastault view and put into perspective.
Spike Lee said,
January 31, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Spike Lee Are we on the correct place for facebook ipo? facebook forwarded us right here so I suppose I must be
Crispin in Waterloo said,
April 6, 2012 at 2:44 pm
The carbonaceous resources of the planet are probably enough to raise the CO2 to 530 ppm (140 above present) considering the absorption of CO2 by the oceans and plants. Climate realists will have noticed that the ‘emission’ is sated as if it is net. It is not. The US in particular is absorbing a great deal of CO2 with the re-growth of the Easter Forests.
The expansion of oceans, perhaps to their 2 m higher former levels, will happen as ice sheets melt. This creates >200,000 cubic kilometers of new seawater which will absorb a vast amount of CO2 to bring it up to the current 0.03% contained in sea water. If you want a number on it, a metre rise in sea level from meltwater would absorb 35 billion tons of CO2. There is a heck of a lot more ice on just Greenland than that 200k. It is about 5m cubic km. It has not disappeared completely in a long time, but lots of it could. New seawater stabilises its own pH and the atmosphere may find itself stripped of CO2 rather efficiently.
derk pfannenstiel said,
September 15, 2012 at 4:41 am
I wonder if we have caused, or are adding to the increased rate of global warming by our good deed of recycling of paper products. The rate of global warming has increased as paper product recycling has increased and paper is just a form of carbon which we used to sequester by throwing in the dump. A very rough look (I am not a scientist, nor have good data) shows that the world produces about 300 million metric tons of paper products a year, of which 63% is recycled or about 200 million metric tonnes which according to one web site is equivalent to about 360 million metric tonnes of CO2 we are not sequestering a year. Wonder if any actual scientists could run the numbers. Thanks
CO2 is the "green" gas. - Page 26 said,
October 14, 2012 at 9:27 pm
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