Carbon Dioxide Research

Introduction

            Science has played a significant role in establishing discoveries that advances the search for life in the globe. It is a fact that life exists in different environments which are yet to be explored by scientists across the globe. It is evident that scientific evidence and discoveries are made all the time. With the new discoveries, conducting more research on life has been enabled providing more incredible information making it easier to understand the concept. One of the major scientific discoveries made in 2016 includes the fact that pumping carbon dioxide into the ground transforms the gas into a solid stone.

Discovery 1: Pumping Carbon dioxide gas into the ground transforms it into a solid stone

Brief Description

            The discovery that pumping carbon dioxide gas into the ground can transform the element into a solid stone was made by scientists in Iceland. The scientists considered the move as a permanent was of dealing with the problem of carbon emission thus preventing the gas from reaching the atmosphere to pose a further damage. The scientists made the presented discovery after carbon dioxide gas was pumped into volcanic rock in the region (Kantor, 2016). The process was expected to speed up the natural process which turns basalt into carbonate minerals before becoming limestone. It is a fact that the process always takes several hundreds of thousands of years to complete. Despite this, the scientists were able to accomplish it in a period of only two years (Kantor, 2016). The outcome of the process was that carbon was captured into a rock which could be stored underground. Furthermore, the scientists argued that the rocks storing the carbon could be utilized as a building material therefore capturing the gas ensuring it never reenters the atmosphere.

            It is a fact that the problem of carbon dioxide has increasingly become a problem posing a major threat to humanity. With increased industrialization, industries and manufacturing plants are continually emitting carbon dioxide gas resulting to a significant rise in the rate of global warming. Making discovering on how to handle the problem of high levels of carbon dioxide gas in the  environment can result to a significant positive impact in saving life in the future. As it is, more than required levels of the gas posses a significant threat to the  life through causing significant environmental damage.

How the Discovery Advances the Search for Life

            The discovery about the transformation of the carbon dioxide gas into a solid stone advances the search of life in the universe since it outlines how to extend humanity through preventing the negative impacts of carbon emissions to the atmosphere. All the extra carbon available in the atmosphere needs a place to go. So far, ocean and land plants have undertaken approximately 55% of the extra gas released into the atmosphere through human activities. Forty five percent of the gas has remained in the atmosphere. As time goes by, the land and the ocean take up the remaining percentage of the gas. Despite this,  20% of the gas remains in the atmosphere for several thousands of years. It is a fact that the changes in the level of the gas affects the affects the reservoir of the gas. Having excessive level of the gas in the atmosphere warms the earth resulting to an increase in the growth rate of the plants available on land. An excess level of carbon dioxide in oceans and lakes results to an increased acidity of the water thus posing a potential threat to the marine life.

            From the presented description, it is evident that the high levels of carbon in the atmosphere are dangerous to life. Therefore, discovering how to control the massive amounts of the element released into the atmosphere can aid in controlling the negative impact of the gas to life. It is highly evident that high levels of carbon dioxide gas stays in the atmosphere based on the fact that it is the most important gas that controls the general temperature of the planet. Methane, carbon dioxide, and halocarbons are greenhouse gases known to absorb a wide range of energy from the earth which it further reemits into the atmosphere. The re-emitted energy travels in various directions which further heats the surface of the earth. It is evident that without the gas, the planet would be frozen to a point that life would not exist on it. Despite this, it is apparent that only a significant portion of the gas should exist to avoid having the re-emitted energy overheat the earth’s surface.

            It is evident that carbon dioxide contributes minimally to the greenhouse effect. Despite this, science has shown that the gas is directly involved in setting the temperature which controls the amount of water vapor available in the environment hence the size of the greenhouse effect. The increasing levels of carbon dioxide gas concentrations are already causing a negative impact to the world by significantly heating up the planet. Similarly, the greenhouse gases have also been increasing resulting to a significant rise in the amount of global temperatures. Therefore, the presented discovery will aid in significantly controlling the carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere therefore reducing the cases of global warming to preserve plant and human life. As revealed, the high levels of the gas results to an increased heating effect which is dangerous for the life on the planet.

Next Steps for Future Research

            Despite the fact that scientists have revealed how to deal with the excess carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere, it is still evident that there is need for future research. One of the steps for consideration includes identifying the most cost efficient means transforming the gas into a solid stone. It is evident that the scientists in Iceland were able to accomplish the process within a period of two years other than the common thousands of years. Despite the significant reduction in time, it is still a commonality that the two year period is still much having in mind the rate of industrialization noted in the world today.  Therefore, establishing the right techniques which may also be considered to be cost effective is considered as a future research step which would aid in enhancing the success rate of the presented discovery to save future life.

            Additionally, it is also necessary to establish the most efficient ways of utilizing the stones storing carbon to avoid an incident of increased “carbon wastes.” It is a fact that the stones storing the carbon may pose a potential health concerns to the human life when used as construction material. Incidentally, by blasting and breaking the stones, the gas could be released into the atmosphere without the knowledge of the people hence an increased global warming. Furthermore, with an increased capacity of the underground stones storing the carbon dioxide gas, the aquatic and plant life might be in danger of excessive carbon when the stones do not hold the gas as initially expected.

References

Kantor, J. (2016). Amazing Scientific Discoveries of 2016. Listverse. Retrieved from http://listverse.com/2016/07/26/10-amazing-scientific-discoveries-of-2016/