On 2007/11/10, at 8:04 PM, Harry Wyeth wrote:
We read a lot about the weight (I still like the term) of carbon
dioxide released to the atmosphere by various activities, e.g., xyz
causes abc tons of CO2, etc. I have often wondered what physical
volume this represents. I once asked a scientific presenter the
question, and he had no idea and thought the question rather odd.
But if one cubic meter of air weighs one kg, and CO2 is somewhat
similar (I know it is heavier), then 10,000 tons (as reported in
the US press) (4000 tonnes or metric tons) would fill a volume of
4,000,000 cu meters, or a cube of about 160 m on a side. Maybe the
volume of a small gymnasium (50 x 30 x 20 m?) would be 30,000 cu m
or 30,000 kg or 30 metric tons.
Right, or did I drop or add a digit?
HARRY WYETH
Dear Harry,
At Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide ) they give
the density of carbon dioxide as follows:
At standard temperature and pressure, the density of carbon dioxide
is around 1.98 kg/m³, about 1.5 times that of air.
You might find this figure useful for your calculations.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin helps people understand how to go about their
metrication upgrade– quickly and easily – by helping them avoid
mistakes that he has made himself, or that he has seen made by others
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Pat specialises in the modern metric system based on the
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