How can a cubic metre of straw bales weighing 130kg contain 145kg of atmospheric CO2?

Question

I don’t understand how 130kg can contain 145kg… Are there different laws for atmosphere weight compared to sea-level weight. Or are my numbers wrong?

In: Biology

Answer 1

When carbon burns, it reacts with oxygen in the atmosphere:

C + O2 -> CO2

So the 145 kg of CO2 come from the carbon in the straw and the oxygen in the atmosphere: 12 g of carbon react with 32 g of oxygen, producing 44 g of CO2.

Edit: The molecular weight of carbon is 12 as much as hydrogen, oxygen 16. That’s how I got those numbers.