Friday, April 30, 2010

Global Thermo Controling Process

Shivantha Withanage

In the history of human race different things had become important to humans in different periods. Among these important things, there were things that helped to improve human civilizations and also things that leaded humans to the path of disasters.

Carbon, the fundamental element of life plays a key role in the history of universe. Life on earth is a carbon based system. I shall lead you to have a look on carbon in a scientific way. Carbon belongs to the group IVA in the periodic table and located in the sixth place of Mendelief categorization. Its relative atomic mass (r.a.m) is 12.0107. It means exactly 12.0107g of pure carbon contain 6x1023 carbon atoms or 1mol of carbon. Relative atomic mass is calculated relative to the mass of one twelfth of the mass of 126C isomer.

Every atom is consists of subatomic particles known as electrons, neutrons and protons. Protons are positively charged and electrons have negative charges which is similar to the charge of a proton, while neutrons remain uncharged. Each electron has a charge of -1.6x10-19 C (Coulomb) and each proton has a charge of +1.6x10-19C. Neutrons and protons are gathered to the center of the atom known as nucleus and electrons take there individual paths, belong to various fixed energy levels around the nucleus. These electrons maintain close vicinity in order to make a negative charged discontinuous cluster around the nucleus.

Carbon it self has 6 electrons, 6 protons and 6 neutrons. In here I only count 126C isomer as carbon, because 146C isomer is radioactive and automatically turn in to 126C isomer in natural status. Every atom likes to maintain a lower energy position, because it is the most stable position. So atoms usually emit energy in order to stable themselves. In this stable position carbon atom has no charge, because the level of positive charge is equal to the level of negative charge.








Atomic Structure of Carbon







So all the positive charges are completely cancelled by the negative charges. I may not pursue describing advance atomic structure and characteristics of carbon, because it might be hard for a typical reader to comprehend. Carbon plays two main roles in the warming process of the planet earth. It strengthens the warming process as well as the cooling process. Two different molecules formed with the participation of carbon, contribute to these two processes.


Molecule is the stable configuration of atomic nuclei and electrons bound together by electromagnetic forces and electrostatics. This is the simplest structural unit that displays the characteristic physical and chemical properties of a compound. There are two types of molecules, known as Element Molecules and Compound Molecules. Element molecules are the molecules that consists of one kind of atoms (eg-H2, He) and compound molecules are made with two or more different combined atoms (eg-CO2, N2O).


Carbon particles which are made of single or many carbon atoms contribute to the cooling process. Usually when organic compounds such as fossil fuels are partially combustion, carbon particles are release to the atmosphere. These particles voyaged to the upper atmosphere due to their light weight. There is another fact which helps for the up rise of carbon particles. The movements of the subatomic particles of carbon and the movements of the atoms inside the carbon particles generate an electromagnetic field. Since this electromagnetic field is sufficient enough to apply a force at the gravitational center of the particle, which heads to the opposite direction of the gravitational pull the particle independently move to the highest altitude it can reach. The maximum height which a carbon particle could reach is decided according to two reasonable facts. Those facts are the weight of the particle and the magnitude of electromagnetic force applied to the gravitational center of the particle.


When these particles reach the upper atmosphere they bind together with electrostatics and make a cluster around the globe. This discontinuous cluster act as a barrier for the Infrared (I.R) waves released from the sun commonly known as heat waves. So it reflects most of I.R waves back to space and decrease the heat that enters to the lower atmosphere. Then the temperature becomes low, cause of less heat. It means carbon particles in the upper atmosphere have the ability to make a cooling effect. Naturally we can sense this in a significantly low degree, because only some carbon particles able to reach the upper atmosphere. Most of them react with other elements in the atmosphere, like oxygen and some times these carbon particles collide with water and descend back to the earth’s surface.


Carbon dioxide is a compound molecule which is made with a carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. The carbon atom rests at the center and oxygen atoms are located in the two opposite sides of the carbon atom. According to the atomic structures of carbon and oxygen, CO2 has a linear shape. It’s the most stable stage for CO2 in the nature, because the atomic distractions inside the CO2 molecule become neutral, when atoms are located in a straight line.




Molecular Structure of Carbon Dioxide


According to the molecular structure of CO2, it has zero total electron drag. Because the out pull of electrons by oxygen atoms are equal and to opposite directions. So the electron drag to different sides become neutralize by each other. Since CO2 molecule doesn’t has an electron drag it remain nonpolarized. This nonpolarize status of CO2 allows it to oscillate even in a very low energy transmission. But there is a net change in the dipole moment of this molecule when it vibrates. These molecular vibrations occur at energies that are of the same magnitude as the energy of the photons on infrared waves. Infrared waves have frequencies which are even smaller than the frequencies of the visible light.


When these I.R waves hit the CO2 which has concentrated in the upper atmosphere, CO2 molecule absorb the energy from I.R waves. When the vibrating frequency of CO2 molecule become equal to the magnitude of the I.R wave, CO2 molecule absorb the maximum energy it can gain. Then the CO2 molecule starts to release the electromagnetic energy that it has absorbed. This electromagnetic energy releases to the atmosphere as heat energy. In every time this process occur it release some heat to the atmosphere and after some time this heat approach a certain level. So the atmospheric temperature increase and it causes the warming process of earth’s atmosphere. When the CO2 concentration increases to a high level, this warming process becomes uncontrollable and CO2 molecules start to emit heat energy in a very high rate. So the atmospheric temperature continuously increases and this kind of warming effect can change and damage every eco-system on earth. This is the same thing we experience as Global Warming. These scientific facts prove that carbon contribute to both cooling and warming effects.
At the conclusion I would like to make a statement. Humans can not control environment, because man kind is just a one creation of the environment. What will happen to us, if we fail to obey the rules of nature? Only Mother Nature knows the answer.



END