Question

During the 1980s, the average emission of carbon from burning fossil fuels on Earth was 5.439 petagrams (Pg) of carbon per year in the form of CO₂.

(a) How many kg of C were placed in the atmosphere each year?
kg

(b) How many kg of CO₂ were placed in the atmosphere each year?
kg

(c) A metric ton is 1000 kg. How many metric tons of CO₂ were placed in the atmosphere each year?
metric tons / year
If there were 5 billion people on Earth, how many tons of CO₂ were produced for each person?
tons per person

Answer 1

(a) mass of carbon added per year = 5.439 pentagram = 5.439×10¹⁵ g

= 5.439×10¹² × 10³ g

= 5.439 ×10¹² kg ( Answer)

(b) mass of CO₂ added per year = mass of Carbon added per year × ( 44g/mol ÷ 12 g/mol ) = 5.439×10¹²kg ×(44/12)

= 19.943 ×10¹² kg

= 1.994 ×10¹² kg (Answer)

(c)

Metric tons of CO₂ added per year = 1.994 ×10⁹ × 10³ kg

= 1.994 × 10⁹ metric tons / year (answer)

Tons of CO₂ produced per person = 1.994 ×10⁹ tons/year ÷ (5×10⁹)

= 0.3989 tons/person (answer)