Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: colarris on 08/08/2010 23:04:51
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Do carbonated drinks damage the ozone layer?
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Carbonated drinks...so we're talking about CO2 emission. Let get some facts first of all.
CO2 is a greenhouse gas, contributing to global warming. These gases absorb heat so they consequently heat up the planet. They don't really damage the ozone layer. The real culprits for ozone layer damage are chlorofluorocarbons and methyl bromide, used in industry for all sorts of stuff (such as a cooling agent, solvents...etc). They bond with the oxygen of the ozone so there are less O3 as a consequence and the ozone layer is diluted (or "damaged" from our human perspective).
Now that we've gotten those facts straight, answering this question is easy. The answer is "no", but do they contribute to global warming? Insignificantly so. Most of our (humans-caused) CO2 emission comes from cars and construction work fuel. Fizzy drinks are irrelevant. BTW, 96.5% of all CO2 is occurred in natural (non-human made) processes.
Hope that helps,
Dory
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Don't know how much, I saw a number of 2 percent, I think? In a Swedish newspaper?
It also depend on how they make the CO2 how much there is distributed.
Google on "How do you make carbonate" to see what processes there are.
Don't let people tell you that it "Would be there anyway."
That's a uninformed answer, they make it, just as our cars do, ehh, not that way though :)
Here's a Carbonate equilibria in natural waters. (http://www.chem1.com/acad/pdf/c3carb.pdf)
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When one talk about CO2 and 'global warming' people often mix the natural CO2 cycle, that all flora and fauna creates, with the the man-made one. Put in the same bag sort of, but the problem we have is with the part we humans specifically have introduced, starting with our industrialized revolution (250 years about). I'll give you a splendid example of subtle mis-information. If you go to Google answers (http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/445201.html) and read the answers to "Environmental Effects of carbonation (CO2) in drinks." You'll see one guy, seemingly doing his best to explain to you why you shouldn't worry, write
"As a rough estimate, the burning of one gallon of gasoline produces
about 20 pounds of CO2. Hence, if you drive 10,000 miles and your car
averages 25 miles per gallon of gasoline, it will liberate
approximately 8,000 pounds of CO2 to the atmosphere: (10,000 miles) *
(1 gallon of gas / 25 miles) * (20 pounds of CO2 / gallon of gas) =
8,000 pounds of CO2. If your car travels at 50 miles per gallon of
gasoline, however, it would liberate only half as much CO2, or 4,000
pounds, in travelling 10,000 miles.
Also,as a rough estimate, a person exhales about 2.2 pounds of CO2 per
day; so over a year, a person would exhale approximately 800 pounds of
CO2: (2.2 pounds of CO2 / day) * (365 days) = 803 pounds of CO2."
As his source he gives you "Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change"
Cited as an "(Non-Profit Organization Specializing in Research and Educational Developments Related to the Rising CO2 Content of Earth's Atmosphere.)" by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.
It all sounds over the table until you start to check up his source.
"The Idso clan is the von Trapp family of climate change denial. In 1980, paterfamilias Sherwood Idso, a self-described "bio-climatologist," published a paper in Science concluding that doubling the world's carbon dioxide concentration wouldn't change the planet's temperature all that much. In years that followed, Idso and his colleagues at Arizona State University's Office of Climatology received more than $1 million in research funding from oil, coal, and utility interests. In 1990, he coauthored a paper funded by a coal mining company, titled "Greenhouse Cooling."
From Meet the 12 loudest members of the chorus claiming that global warming is a joke and that CO2 emissions are actually good for you. (http://motherjones.com/environment/2009/12/dirty-dozen-climate-change-denial-11-idso-family)
I've found this kind of subtle misdirection several times on 'Google answers?'
They don't seem to check up on what answers they get..
Or they don't care?
But people read it, and believe them..