CO2 in oceans?

Question

If there is a high amount of CO2 in the oceans, and everyday those very same waters are evaporated into the atmosphere, does that mean theres a small amount of CO2 in water vapor? sorry if that was a really stupid question, I'm only a h/s student so please be nice lol

Answer 1

Water vapour is made up of molecules of water which break free through the surface of the water into the atmosphere. There are also molecules of CO2 which are in the atmosphere and dissolved in the sea and move between both. It is true to say that there is CO2 in the atmosphere but not in the part of the atmosphere which consists of water vapour which is by definition pure H2O.

Answer 2

Think of the CO2 and the H2O vapor as two independent things. Not exactly true, but close enough.

The oceans gain CO2 as we put it into the atmosphere and lose it as the water heats up. Right now the first factor is more important, so the oceans are taking on CO2, and becoming more acidic, which is bad for aquatic life.

Later on, if we don't do anything the second factor will become the most important and CO2 released from the oceans will speed up the warming. Hopefully we'll reduce CO2 emissions before that.

If not, some of the more extreme predictions about global warming could happen, as CO2 from the oceans speeds things up.

Answer 3

H2O vapor is a gas, just like CO2 vapor is a gas. CO2 dissolved in the mixed layer of the ocean is in equilibrium with CO2 in the atmosphere. When you add CO2 to the atmosphere, about half of it ends up in the ocean. Likewise, if you want to take CO2 out of the atmosphere you need to take out about twice as much as would be necessary if the ocean hadn't been able to soak it up. If you dissolve CO2 in pure water it turns the water acidic. The ocean, due to the dissolved salts, has a "buffering" capability so that it doesn't get as acidic as pure water for the same amount of CO2. One of the worrisome things about all the CO2 that we are putting into the air and oceans is that no one knows for sure the limitations of this buffering capability or the tolerance of sea life for a change in acidity.

Answer 4

Do understand that ocean water is salty???
Take a carbonated drink like coke and put in a tea spoon of salt be careful it is going to throw all the CO2 out of the water. So ocean water cannot hold much CO2 .

Answer 5

Water and carbon dioxide chemically combine forming carbolic acid and ther is a lot of it in the ocean. In fact there is a lot more CO2 in the ocean than in the atmosphere. In the ocean it combines with calcium forming calcite.

Answer 6

Nope! No CO2.