You hear about so many Million tons of CO2 per year, does this make the atmosphere ‘heavier’? Does it float away or is it just a negligible amount?
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The CO2 already exists, or at least it’s atoms do, either in pure for or trapped in a compound or resource. When you burn fossil fuels you are changing the chemistry and slitting the atoms up into new compounds, one of which is CO2. When permafrost melts, CO2 frozen as bubbles in the ground is released. In any case, the weight of the earth inclusive of atmosphere doesn’t change. The material was always there, and hasn’t left.
This is due to what we know as the laws of thermodynamics, and entropy. You cannot Create material or energy out of nothing – you can only move it between open systems. Ie the earth within the solar system is an open system where energy from the sun can enter the earth’s atmosphere and become trapped by CO2 buildup. Or you can think of a terrarium as a nearly closed system orher than the need for sunlight. All the atoms inside the glass transform cyclically but are never lost from the system.
The earth is basically a giant terrarium, but we need to have a way for energy received by the sun to vent back into space. CO2 is closing gaps in our glass cage and energy is entering faster than it is escaping. This causes an average increase in global temperature the upsets the system. A very delicate system that needs millions of years to slowly adapt. Global warming in of itself isn’t an issue. It’s how fast it is going that will cause horrific challenges for all current life on earth.
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