In reply to Wesley Bruce's message of Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:18:31 +1000: Hi, [snip] >Harry Veeder wrote: > >> >>When hydrogen is burned in air, the oxygen in the air combines with hydrogen >>to form H2O. Will breathable oxygen decline if we burn too much hydrogen? >>I guess this would never be a problem if all the hydrogen burned comes from >>the decomposition of H2O into H2 and O2. >> >>But seriously, if everything was powered by burning hydrogen would the >>proportion of oxygen in the air gradually decline?
I have previously calculated (and posted), that if we continue to use energy at the current rate, and combustion of hydrogen to produce water were our only source, and plants didn't return any oxygen to the atmosphere, then it would take 44000 years to use up all the oxygen in the atmosphere. >> >>For that matter, has burning hydrocarbons already decreased oxygen >>levels? [snip] >Nice question. I believe the answer is no because plants simply make >more oxygen to replace what is used up. Water is cracked in the >photosyntheic process so both water and CO2 is recycled. Correct, however since the CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing, it would appear that the plants can't keep up. >Also carbonic >acid in rain reacts with some rocks to release oxygen and break down the >rock. Perhaps you could give an example of an acid/base reaction producing oxygen? > That's why some rocks turn rapidly to soil when unearthed. You must have a very long term view of life. ;) [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition (capitalism) provides the motivation, Cooperation (communism) provides the means.
