9. According to the Energy Information Administration, about 32 gigatonnes (Gt)
ID: 1042386 • Letter: 9
Question
9. According to the Energy Information Administration, about 32 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon dioxide were emitted to the atmosphere from the global energy sector in 2017. a) If all of the carbon dioxide emitted in 2017 remained in the atmosphere, by what percentage would the atmospheric concentration of CO2 be increased from the 2016 concentration? You may assume that the average atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was 405 ppmy in 2016. (Hint: Think about how concentration is calc atmosphere is given in the appendix of Cow and Call, and you will find this number useful.) [3 points) ulated as a fraction. Also, the total number of moles of air in the The actual increase of carbon dioxide was about 1.5 ppm by volume during 2017. How does this compare with the ppmv increase you determined in part a? How can you explain this difference? [3 points] (Hint: Think about this as a box model problem, and consider stocks and flows of carbon in the atmosphere to help you consider what might have happened.) b)Explanation / Answer
a) we have to find the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere in the year 2016
average atmospheric concentartion in ppmv is given as 405 ppmv
from this we can calculate how much gigatons of CO2 is produced.
first ppmv is converted to volume %
1 volume percentage = 10000 PPMV
405 ppmv = 0.0405 volume %
mean mass of air = 5.15 * 106 gigatones
molar mass of air = 28.96
molecular mass of CO2 = 44
mass percentage of CO2 = 0.0405 * 44 / 28.96
= 0.0615 mass percentage of CO2
total weight of carbon dioxide = mass percentage of CO2 * mean mass of air (atmosphere)
( mass % = mass / total mass * 100, so mass = total mass * mass percent /100 )
= 0.0615 * 5.15 * 106 /100
= 31.67 * 102 gigatones.
we can round of this as about 31.6 gigatones
concentration of CO2 in 2017 = 32 gigatones
percentage increase of CO2 = (32 - 31.6 / 31.6 ) * 100
= 1.265 %
b) the actual increase of CO2 in 2017 = 1.5 ppmv
so total concentration in ppmv = 405 + 1.5
= 406.5 ppmv
= 0.04065 % volume
mean mass of air = 5.15 * 106 gigatones
molar mass of air = 28.96
molecular mass of CO2 = 44
mass percentage of CO2 = 0.04065 * 44 / 28.96
= 0.06176 mass percentage of CO2
total weight of carbon dioxide = mass percentage of CO2 * mean mass of air (atmosphere)
( mass % = mass / total mass * 100, so mass = total mass * mass percent /100 )
= 0.06176 * 5.15 * 106 /100
= 31.80 * 102
31 GT of CO2 has increased to 31.80 GT from 2016 to 2017
a stack is a structure for sending hot gases into the atmosphere from a boiler. the stack is a long structure so it sends gas to the outer atmosphere. this avoids the contamination of atmosphere to a much lesser extend. the increase in release in concentration of CO2 is because of the increase of power factories that burns coal.
stack height is directlyproportional to the polution generating capacity of factory. this increse in factories and burning coal increased the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere.
The atmosphere contains water vapour also .the carbon dioxide tends t0 dissolve into water. so when the actual concentration is to be calculated, the changing value due to water vapour is substracted. so the amount of carbon dioxide present in dry air is calculated.
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