What if we took HUGE chunks of magnesium and burned them. Would this lower the CO2 levels in the atmosphere?
2006-07-09 12:25:16 · 4 answers · asked by Albert F 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
How are you going to mine the magnesium?
Magnesium fueled machinery?
No, but keep trying...
2006-07-09 12:37:13 · answer #1 · answered by Paul C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, burning magnesium wouldn't help. Combustible materials use oxygen when they burn, not carbon dioxide. If you want to use up carbon dioxide, you need lots and lots of plants. They use carbon dioxide in photosynthetic processes to make carbohydrates. The byproduct of these reactions is oxygen. So, convince people to stop burning the rainforests and replace a lot of urban sprawl with trees, and that's a step in the right direction. Of course, if we want to make any headway on the CO2 front, planting trees and saving rainforests are only half the battle. We also have to stop adding more CO2 to the atmosphere from our cars, power plants, and so on.
2006-07-09 22:39:09 · answer #2 · answered by nardhelain 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it wouldn't, because the burning of magnesium occurs with the oxygen in the atmosphere, not carbon dioxide. Burning or so-called combustion reactions produces more CO2.
2006-07-09 19:53:04 · answer #3 · answered by Sci Nerd 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Did you calculate how much Mg you would need even if the reaction used CO2? Not practical even if it worked. My physics friend suggests that we stop recycling newspapers and simply store them. This would sequester large quantities of C in paper rather than as CO2.
2006-07-10 11:54:44 · answer #4 · answered by gtoacp 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋