[RonF]

Let's see. Octane (just to pick some kind of standard fuel) is 96/114 parts carbon by weight. That means that 140 tons of octane would be 117 tons of carbon. Combust that completely and the weight of the carbon dioxide produced would be 429 tons of CO₂.

Carbon dioxide is made up of one atom of Carbon, atomic weight 12, and 2 atoms of Oxygen, atomic weight 16. So an atom with a weight of 12 oxidizes - adding another 32 units of weight - and reaches a molecular weight of 44. 117 * (44/12) gives 429. The math works because Oxygen is 16 times heavier than Hydrogen and even heavier than Carbon itself, and each Carbon picks up two of them.

[umgud]

Hi Ron,

No offense, but I’m struggling with this. I understand your math and the ataomic weights. Maybe I’m mixing metaphors here, but I can weigh 140 tons of jet fuel on a set of scales. If I captured the emitted CO2, I’m not sure I could put it on a set of scales and see it measure 429 tons.

Maybe I’m oversimplifying this.

[UCANSEE2]

“The math works because Oxygen is 16 times heavier than Hydrogen and even heavier than Carbon itself, and each Carbon picks up two of them.”

So, if we keep putting C02 into the air, the sky will truly fall????????

How much C02 did Mt. St. Helens put into the air, and why aren’t we all dead?