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263 comments on DrumBeat: September 8, 2006

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Marco on September 8, 2006 - 9:14am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
Mensa type question here.

How many ('average') barrels of oil would it take to increase atmospheric CO2 by 1PPM?

Bearing in mind the % that doesn't get burned (plastic, chemicals, fertilizer etc..)

Marco.

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JoulesBurn on September 8, 2006 - 9:30am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Just on a mass basis, I come up with 40 billion barrels.

The mass of the atmosphere is 5x10^18 kg. 1 ppm would be
5x10^12 kg. Dividing that by 120 kg/barrel gives 4x10^10 barrels.

Aside from the fraction of oil not burned, there is the fraction of the CO2 absorbed by the oceans and a small amount of additional plant growth.

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tommy on September 8, 2006 - 9:40am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Each 1m2 (square meter) of atmosphere above the earth contains 3kg of CO2. Buring 1 kg of oil generates almost 3kg of CO2. So for each 12 km you drive you put as much CO2 into the atmosphere as there is in 1m2 above the earths surface.

On average we drive 10.000km per year. So we put the same amount of CO2 into the atmosphere each year as there is in 1000m2 above the earth!

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fleam on September 9, 2006 - 2:37am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I'm just certain you mean m^3, cubic meters.
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263 comments on DrumBeat: September 8, 2006

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