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Algae do a good job of removing C02 and S02 from the atmosphere. But you wouldn't want to increase the number of algae in the world's natural waters, because too much algae can be bad for other organisms.
All O2 in the atmosphere originated as CO2, and was converted to O2 by photosynthesis.If we become too good at removing CO2 from the atmosphere, could we not actually risk undermining the natural photosynthetic processes that provide us with O2.I understand that at present we do not extract any significant quantity of CO2 from the atmosphere, so the problems of what happens when we start doing it very efficiently and on a large scale may seem far away; but most perceived environmental problems tend to start by something some seemed like a good idea on a small scale, but became a disaster when scaled up.
Oxygen in the atmosphere was originally supplied by volcanic degassing and electrical discharge: 2H2O + energy → 4H + O2. Bacteria then took over the major role, THEN photosynthesis. The process of photosynthesis did not become a factor until less than 3 billion years ago. We are in the third atmosphere of earth.
Two models are most favored for the origin of the atmosphere: outgassing or accretion. Outgassing is related to the differentiation of the Earth and the release of gases by volcanoes. Assuming that the gases we presently observe were also released by early volcanoes the atmosphere would be made of water vapor (H2O), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrochloric acid (HCl), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), nitrogen (N2), & sulfur gases. The atmosphere was reducing (no free oxygen).The present-day atmosphere is quite different: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide plus small amounts of water vapor Early in Earth history, water vapor formed clouds, rain, and ultimately all of the surface water (oceans, ground water, lakes, rivers, glaciers). The presence of the ancient oceans and lakes is recorded by different types of sedimentary rocks.Perhaps the best geologic evidence for the composition of the early atmosphere is the presence and abundance of Banded Iron Formations. These rocks are made of layers of sulfide minerals (evidence for a reducing environment) and chert or fine-grained quartz. These rocks are not present in rocks younger than 1.8 - 2.5 billions of years ago, when oxygen starting becoming more abundant.The amount of carbon dioxide was reduced by chemical weathering of minerals at the surface: CaSiO3 + CO2 <-> CaCO3 + SiO2. The amount of oxygen increased due to early life forms, like the algae in stromatolites.The introduction of red beds, sedimentary rocks with ferric oxide (hematite) cement, to the rock record indicates the addition of free oxygen to the atmosphere.The Atmosphere (& Hydrosphere) by Rick Behl has more information.
i'm still sticking to my theory that, while we'd all be happy if seany were rich.. well if we knew how to be, we probably wouldn't just give him our ideas... unless we could have half...