The Legacy of Carbon Dioxide Past and Present Impacts

The Legacy of Carbon Dioxide: Past and Present Impacts covers the truly varied roles carbon dioxide has played and continues to play in the character of our planet. Chapters address the synthesis of CO2 in stars, the evolution of the atmosphere over billions of years, the chemical and physical properties of CO2 and how those influence common phenomena. How well this knowledge is understood and how it was determined, including existing uncertainties in our confidence and the stress from competing possibilities are discussed. Much of the technological jargon in various incorporated sciences has been modified to ease consumption by the non-expert. Features: Provides a historical panorama on how much the world has changed over the eons and the vast influence of carbon dioxide in these changes Follows CO2 through acidic explosive waters, volcanic episodes, sequestered reservoirs, and the chemistry of life Examines the broad scope of chemical and physical attributes carbon dioxide is capable of and their impacts Much of the technological verbiage in various incorporated sciences has been modified to ease consumption by the non-expert. This book is a valuable resource for readers interested in the science of carbon dioxide as well as natural science, the environment, scientific methods, chemistry, and geological sciences.

1. Starting Elements. 2. Early Earth and Our Solar system. 3. Discovery. 4. Structure. 5. Radiocarbon and Its Dioxide. 6. The Air Today. 7. Ye Olde Aire. 8. Proxies. 9. Fire. 10. Carbon Dioxide and Water. 11. Going with the Flow. 12. Carbonates: The Enduring Legacy. 13. Volcanoes. 14. Photosynthesis. 15. Respiration and Metabolism. 16. Weathering. 17. Carbon Dioxide and Ice Overs. 18. Food and Drink. 19. Fossil Fuels. 20. Isotope Stories. Appendix: On a Piece of Chalk. Bibliography.

Paul J. Karol, the author, is a linear academic descendent of Joseph Black, the discoverer of carbon dioxide. He is Professor Emeritus and has been on the chemistry faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for over forty years and received two awards for teaching during that period. His undergraduate degree in chemistry was from Johns Hopkins University and his postdoctoral research was done at Brookhaven National Laboratory. His doctorate degree in nuclear chemistry was acquired at Columbia University under the auspices of Dr. J. M. Miller. Prof. Karol has served as Chair of the Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology of the American Chemical Society, as Chair of the Committee on Nomenclature, Terminology and Symbols of the American Chemical Society, as Chair of the Committee on Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and as Chair of the Joint Working Party on the Disovery of New Elements of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. He served as Associate Dean of Science at Carnegie Mellon and Visiting Professor to the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Legnaro, Italy and the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute in Tokai, Japan. He is the author of over 100 publications.