Tjhe maths of CO2 buildup?

Question

CO2 levels have risen from 280 ppm pre-industrial revolution to 380 ppm now and are rising by about 2 ppm per year. To help me visualise this, if this CO2 gas was in a single layer at ground level instead of dispersed through the atmosphere:

How thick was this original blanket of carbon dioxide?

How much have we added in the last 200 years?

How much is this layer increasing each year?

Answer 1

Sorry but CO2 is a very heavy gas and most is right on the ground. It is so heavy that it is used to smother a fire . 99% is withen 15 ft of the earth's surface. U are watching the wrong gas... Look at oxygen which is 20.9% of our atmosphere. The CO2 increase is so low it has not reduced oxygen by .1% in all the yearsGet worried as the Oxygen drops below 19.5%,U will be unconsis.U have gave the plants no credit for all the CO2 that they take in. Plants release O2 if it has CO2 input. Your big 380 ppm is only .000,380 % and this is nothing...

Answer 2

The answer needs to take a different tack to explain the rise in Co2 for the last 100 years. The amount of deforestation in the tropical rain forest and the rise in human and animal population almost equal out the rise. So the only answer to this is to plant more trees and start a high casualty war between china and India.

Answer 3

This isn't the right way to look at the problem and it is against my better judgment since I suspect you are not going to interpret the information correctly, but you did ask so here's the answer:

The scale height of the atmosphere is around 7.6 km.  The "height" of an equivalent layer of pure CO2 that had a volume mixing ratio of 280 ppm in an atmosphere with a scale height of 7.6 km would be 280x10^-6 x 7.6 km or a height of a little over 2 meters.  The "height" of a CO2 layer with a mixing ratio of 380 ppm would be a little under 3 meters.  If the mixing ratio is increasing at 2 ppm per year, the height is increasing about 1.5 centimeters per year.  

Note that these numbers are estimates since the scale height isn't equal exactly to the equivalent height of the atmosphere.  But it's a good rough approximation.  

But like I said, the thickness of an equivalent layer of CO2 isn't really the right way to look at the problem.

Answer 4

You're basically looking at percentages, so you can set the original blanket to any thickness you like, then show the changes proportionally.  I prefer comparing it to city populations:

NYC is estimated to have roughly 8.25 million people living within it's borders.  

Pre-industrial levels would equate to 2,310 people in New York City today (this is the supposed base level unaffected by man).

Current estimates would equate to 3,135 people in New York City (or an additional 825 people we've added to New York over the last 150 years).

Projected annual rise would equate to 16.5 people a year....in New York City.