Raw Fossil Energy

why does burning fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide?

I want to know why burning fossil fuels are causing global warming, and why do fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide?

Public Comments

1. burning fossil fuels releases noxous gases like caron monoxide etc... some deplete the ozone layer and some are bad for animals.... it even causes acid rain etc... they give out carbon cause the stuff tht r burnt and stuff contain carbon in a diff form...... hope u get what i mean
2. Fossil fuels contain carbon, hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen and some other elements. But the majority is Carbon. So when such fuels burn they combine with the Oxygen and Nitrogen in air to form Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen oxides etc. Even though Carbon monoxide is also forms but it will not be in appreciable quantity since they get converted to carbon dioxide when combustion gets completed. Any form of carbon when burns produces carbon dioxide. Hope this helps your understanding of the problem.
3. They contain carbon and hydrogen. When they burn in air, they combine with the oxygen in the air - the carbon sticks to two oxygens to make CO2, or carbon dioxide. This happens because systems try to find the least energetic state. Carbon-dioxide is very stable, it has a relatively low electrostatic potential energy in its bonds. Because it is a state of low energy, it forms easily when the fuel is being burnt. Burning fossil fuels therefore leads to carbon dioxide. Every atom or molecule has 'energy levels' it can occupy - eg how fast it spins, or where its electrons are. More energy = electrons get further from the nucleus. Atoms & molecules can absorb energy from light to change energy levels. Eg electrons absorb a photon and move further from the nucleus. The energy gaps in carbon dioxide happen to coincide with where lots of light comes up from Earth, but not with the energy from light coming down from the Sun. So CO2 absorbs heat going up, but not going down. By absorbing it, it's slowing down its escape and temporarily 'trapping' it. This increases energy, and therefore temperature.
4. Because all fossil fuels contain carbon being as it is the main building block of life, and when burnt it is released into the atmosphere. It does not cause global warming though.
5. MTR got it right except CO2 absorbs only a very small portion of the radiated light (infrared) from the heated earth. It absorbs it in very narrow bandwidths.
6. Your initial premise is wrong. There is NO substantial proof that the burning of fossil fuels by man has had ANY effect on global warming. That is a scam. Fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide due to the chemical reactions involved in burning them.
7. These three give a fair description of the internal combustion process and how it works. The only source that gives the complete scientific detailed explanation was in a McGraw-Hill science and technology series that I believe is still in publication as I have several versions from the early 50s through the mid 70s and the data is consistent amongst them. But then the average warmer will not have read them as all the materials contained in them were developed using the scientific method of testing not peer review. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_combustion_engine http://www.howstuffworks.com/engine1.htm http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/engopt.html
8. What people do, in regards to pollution, is nothing in comparison to what nature does. The oceans put 10x's more co2 into atmosphere then people do.