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Vince (Login MoxiFox)
Posted Jul 2, 2009 4:09 PM
.... but it's not completely that simple.
If you take an empty aquarium and divide it into 2 sections with a piece of glass in the middle and then fill one side with pure carbon dioxide, you'll have an aquarium that has straight air on one side and pure carbon dioxide gas on the other side, separated with the divider sheet of glass.
If you then pull the divider out, you might expect the 2 gases to mix together and then separate into layers -much like cream going to the top of milk- with the CO2 going to the bottom of the aquarium and air going to the top.
It doesn't happen that way though; the gases mix together homogeneously and will NOT separate into layers. It's explained by the high rate of atomic velocity inside of gases that make them gases in the first place (and create gas "pressure"). It's kind of like a whole bunch of excited people running around; the heavy guys don't fall to the bottom because everyone is running around too fast. If you put all of these same people into a box so there's no room for any of them to move, (you compress them), and then SHAKE the box real good, the heaviest guys will go to the bottom.
Ok, so .... CO2 released into the atmosphere will mix homogeneously with air ... even though it's heavier than air.
But when you add in the effect of weather -(turbulence, compression etc.)- you DO get a separator effect and as soon as that happens, the heavier gas will precipitate to the bottom -at least temporarily.
A most interesting example of gas separation is realized in -(I can't remember the commercial name for it now)- a vortex cooler.
http://www.newmantools.com/vortex.htm
![[linked image]](http://www.newmantools.com/p3c.gif)
When air is spun at a high velocity, the HEAVIER air goes to the outside, just like anything will in a centrifuge. Which part of air is heaviest? Cold air! So, by spinning air at a very high velocity, one can actually extract "cold" air from the mass entering and use it for cooling. (Miners sometimes wear suits that are air-conditioned using this method). The hot air separates and goes back out into the atmosphere.
The same thing is true for free CO2 in the atmosphere. When it becomes subjected to turbulence and compression, the heavier CO2 will separate and migrate to the bottom. If this didn't happen, our atmosphere would be extremely loaded with CO2. What "scientists" would have us believe is that CO2 collects in the atmosphere and stays there for years and years. In FACT the CO2 in the atmosphere is continuously being renewed from burning sources so that the overall level stays approximately the same at 350 - 380 parts per million.
-Vince
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