Aha! Chemistry with Prof Bob
  • HOME
  • NAVIGATION
    • Table of contents
    • Index
    • TALK WITH PROF BOB?
  • LEARNING MODULES
    • Chapter 02 Stuff, matter: What is it? >
      • 0200 Stuff, matter: A theory of atoms
      • 0201 Atoms: The building blocks of all stuff
      • 0202 People classifying stuffs. Why?
    • Chapter 05 Chemical reactions, chemical equations >
      • 0500 Chemical reactions vs. chemical equations. Overview
      • 0501 Chemical amount and its unit of measurement, mole
      • 0502 The Avogadro constant: How many is that?
      • 0503 The Avogadro constant: Why is it that number?
      • 0504 Chemical formulas: What can they tell us??
      • 0505 Chemical equations: What can they tell us?
      • 0506 Limiting reactants: How much reaction can happen?
      • 0507 Balanced chemical equations: What are they?
      • 0508 Chemical reactions as competitions
    • Chapter 09 Aqueous solutions >
      • 0901 What is a solution? And what is not?
      • 0902 Miscibility of liquids in each other
      • 0903 Like dissolves like? Shades of grey
      • 0905 Dissolution of ionic salts in water: A competition
      • 0906 Can we predict solubilities of salts?
      • 0907 Solution concentration
      • 0908 Chemical species, speciation in aqueous solution
      • 0909 Solutes: Electrolytes or non-electrolytes?
      • 0910 Electrolytes - strong or weak?
      • 0911 Concentrated, dilute, strong, weak
      • 0912 Species concentration vs. solution concentration
      • 0913 Weak electrolytes: Getting quantitative
    • Chapter 11: Dynamic chemical equilibrium >
      • 1100 Dynamic chemical equilibrium: Overview
      • 1101 Visualising dynamic chemical equilibrium
      • 1102 The jargon of chemical equilibrium
      • 1103 Equilibrium constants: The law of equilibrium
      • 1104 The law of equilibrium: an analogy
    • Chapter 22 Spectroscopy >
      • 2200 Spectroscopy: Overview and preview
      • 2201 Quantisation of forms of energy
      • 2202 Light: Wave-particle "duality"
      • 2203 Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy
      • 2204 Beer’s law: How much light is transmitted?
    • Chapter 27 The greenhouse effect, climate change >
      • 2700 The greenhouse effect: overview
      • 2701 Is Earth in energy balance?
      • 2702 CO2 in the atmosphere before 1800
      • 2703 So little CO2! Pffft?
      • 2704 Does CO2 affect Earth's energy balance?
      • 2705 The "greenhouse effect"
      • 2706 Why does CO2 absorb radiation from Earth?
      • 2707 The "enhanced greenhouse effect"
      • 2708 Why doesn't CO2 absorb the radiation from the sun?
      • 2709 Why are N2 and O2 not greenhouse gases?
      • 2710 Doesn't water vapour absorb all the IR?
      • 2711 Carbon dioxide from our cars
      • 2712 The source of energy from combustion
      • 2713 Comparing fuels as energy sources
      • 2714 Methane: How does it compare as a GHG?
      • 2715 Different sorts of pollution of the atmosphere
      • 2716 "Acidification" of seawater
    • Chapter 27 Communicating chemistry >
      • 2700 Overview, preview
      • 2703 The jargon we use
  • TEACHERS' CORNER
    • T01 Communicating chemistry
    • T02 Beer's law
    • T03 Professional amnesia of the chemistry teaching professio
    • T04 Law of equilibrium
    • T05 Visusalizing dynamic chemical equilibrium
    • Information vs. knowledge
  • PERSONAL GALLERY
    • Family
    • Travel
    • Playful dolphins
    • The University of Western Australia
    • Kings Park
    • Perth
    • At work
    • 999 Thermodynamics
MODULE 2703

So little carbon dioxide! Pffft?

Some people say .....
​
​
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Especially if their wealth
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comes from a coal mine ....

"How could such a low concentration of carbon dioxide possibly have any effect on Earth's energy balance". Nonsense!
​

But is it nonsense?
​

Let's consider this issue in general - not just in the particular case of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
​
​

The evidence against

Who would volunteer to drink a 0.04 % solution of strychnine? 
​
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Such a low concentration! How could it possibly affect you?
What other substances at low concentrations have no effect on us?
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It's not possible that 0.05% alcohol in your blood could affect you, is it?
And what about low concentrations of food dyes in water?
​
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Do the dyes have any effect on the properties of the solutions?
The substance in the yellow solution absorbs blue light, and the substance dissolved in the blue solution absorbs red and yellow radiation.
​

​
The verdict

So let's take it as established that if someone says, in any context, "How could such a low concentration have any effect? Nonsense!" then that person is indeed talking nonsense.

​
Relevance to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the greenhouse effect
​

The example of the different dyes in water is quite relevant to the story about greenhouse gases and climate change: different substances absorb radiations of different wavelength - and the amount they absorb can be significant even in very dilute solutions.

You might keep this in mind when you read about why carbon dioxide absorbs the radiations emitted from Earth, but not those incoming from the sun (Module 2708 Why doesn't carbon dioxide absorb the radiation from the sun?), and why carbon dioxide absorbs radiations emitted from the earth's surface, but nitrogen and oxygen do not (Module 2709 Why are N2 and O2 not greenhouse gases?).

Now let's move on to the particular case of low concentrations of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere (Module 2704 Does carbon dioxide affect Earth's energy balance?).
​

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LEARNING CHEMISTRY FOR UNDERSTANDING
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  • HOME
  • NAVIGATION
    • Table of contents
    • Index
    • TALK WITH PROF BOB?
  • LEARNING MODULES
    • Chapter 02 Stuff, matter: What is it? >
      • 0200 Stuff, matter: A theory of atoms
      • 0201 Atoms: The building blocks of all stuff
      • 0202 People classifying stuffs. Why?
    • Chapter 05 Chemical reactions, chemical equations >
      • 0500 Chemical reactions vs. chemical equations. Overview
      • 0501 Chemical amount and its unit of measurement, mole
      • 0502 The Avogadro constant: How many is that?
      • 0503 The Avogadro constant: Why is it that number?
      • 0504 Chemical formulas: What can they tell us??
      • 0505 Chemical equations: What can they tell us?
      • 0506 Limiting reactants: How much reaction can happen?
      • 0507 Balanced chemical equations: What are they?
      • 0508 Chemical reactions as competitions
    • Chapter 09 Aqueous solutions >
      • 0901 What is a solution? And what is not?
      • 0902 Miscibility of liquids in each other
      • 0903 Like dissolves like? Shades of grey
      • 0905 Dissolution of ionic salts in water: A competition
      • 0906 Can we predict solubilities of salts?
      • 0907 Solution concentration
      • 0908 Chemical species, speciation in aqueous solution
      • 0909 Solutes: Electrolytes or non-electrolytes?
      • 0910 Electrolytes - strong or weak?
      • 0911 Concentrated, dilute, strong, weak
      • 0912 Species concentration vs. solution concentration
      • 0913 Weak electrolytes: Getting quantitative
    • Chapter 11: Dynamic chemical equilibrium >
      • 1100 Dynamic chemical equilibrium: Overview
      • 1101 Visualising dynamic chemical equilibrium
      • 1102 The jargon of chemical equilibrium
      • 1103 Equilibrium constants: The law of equilibrium
      • 1104 The law of equilibrium: an analogy
    • Chapter 22 Spectroscopy >
      • 2200 Spectroscopy: Overview and preview
      • 2201 Quantisation of forms of energy
      • 2202 Light: Wave-particle "duality"
      • 2203 Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy
      • 2204 Beer’s law: How much light is transmitted?
    • Chapter 27 The greenhouse effect, climate change >
      • 2700 The greenhouse effect: overview
      • 2701 Is Earth in energy balance?
      • 2702 CO2 in the atmosphere before 1800
      • 2703 So little CO2! Pffft?
      • 2704 Does CO2 affect Earth's energy balance?
      • 2705 The "greenhouse effect"
      • 2706 Why does CO2 absorb radiation from Earth?
      • 2707 The "enhanced greenhouse effect"
      • 2708 Why doesn't CO2 absorb the radiation from the sun?
      • 2709 Why are N2 and O2 not greenhouse gases?
      • 2710 Doesn't water vapour absorb all the IR?
      • 2711 Carbon dioxide from our cars
      • 2712 The source of energy from combustion
      • 2713 Comparing fuels as energy sources
      • 2714 Methane: How does it compare as a GHG?
      • 2715 Different sorts of pollution of the atmosphere
      • 2716 "Acidification" of seawater
    • Chapter 27 Communicating chemistry >
      • 2700 Overview, preview
      • 2703 The jargon we use
  • TEACHERS' CORNER
    • T01 Communicating chemistry
    • T02 Beer's law
    • T03 Professional amnesia of the chemistry teaching professio
    • T04 Law of equilibrium
    • T05 Visusalizing dynamic chemical equilibrium
    • Information vs. knowledge
  • PERSONAL GALLERY
    • Family
    • Travel
    • Playful dolphins
    • The University of Western Australia
    • Kings Park
    • Perth
    • At work
    • 999 Thermodynamics