In article <5dt3i0$t3m at salmon.maths.tcd.ie>,
red at maths.tcd.ie (Ricardo Segurado) wrote:
:[]
: This point will bring us way off subject, but plants
:would find it hard to photosynthesise with an even modest
:(5%) rise in atmospheric CO2. I can't recall the exact
:details, but it is a fact. (some plant biochemist please
:help me out here...) I'd say a 3000% rise would be
:fairly catastrophic: to all life.
: (not that it's going to happen..:)
My .02 cents:
Plants LOVE high CO2. In greenhouses, actual %CO2 is around a few percents. They
grow faster than. Maybe 5% is overkill, i don't know. Anyway, they really HATE
acidic environment. Reads, high CO2 causes the next reaction to shift toward
right:
CO2 + 2.H2O <-- --> HCO3- + H3O+
with
pH = -log [H3O+] + pKa(H2O). (I just feel like a teacher this very moment |-<)
Again, reads, higher atmospheric CO2 causes higher H3O+, causing actually lower
pH or more acidic environment. Plants cannot stand acid and die.
Simple argumentation, no biochemical background needed. Common highschool
knowledge.
If I'm wrong, please flame. (Flameshields on, or not. Who cares anyway
;)) Otherwise, don't flame. And please at last provide me with the slicest clue
why high CO2 would cause brain mass to decrease. And furthermore, give me some
results. I haven't heard anything about the source of the apparent correlation
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!, read NOT cause-effect relationship) CO2 and brain mass.
Yet, even if CO2 would reduce brain mass, so what? Would that reduce abilities
of mankind, like the potential to learn how to score high on ambivalent tests
like IQ-tests? (Potential for three more threads ;))
Jeroen
A man conducting a gee-whizz science show with fifty thousand dollars' worth of
Frankenstein equipment is not doing anything scientific if he knows beforehand
what the results of his efforts are going to be. A motorcycle mechanic, on the
other hand, who honks the horn to see if the battery works is informally
conducting a true scientific experiment.
Robert M. Pirsig
== J Schaap =======================================================
Faculty of Medicine, Leiden University
phone: (0)71-5276763
e-mail: SCHAAP at rullf2.MedFac.LeidenUniv.nl
