Name: ..........................................
Carbon comparisons
During the investigation your class has worked out a number for the total amount
of carbon stored by the trees on your school site in kilograms of carbon, but what
does that mean? Let’s find out!
How do we release carbon into the atmosphere?
Burning fossil fuels – Our use of fossil fuels including coal, oil and gas to
generate power is one of the ways that humans release CO2 into the atmosphere.
As the fuels are used to generate electricity in the power stations, CO2 is produced
and escapes into the atmosphere. We use the electricity to power many of the
machines, gadgets and devices that we take for granted and use every day.
We can estimate the amount of CO2 released when we use different devices for
hours, days, weeks or months. This is called the carbon footprint of the device.
Usually a carbon footprint is measured as carbon dioxide (CO2) rather than
carbon (C). Luckily it’s really easy to convert between C and CO2, we just need to
multiply our total carbon value figure by 4.
Fill out equation below:
Total carbon value (kg C)
Student Resource
Investigation 4 - Trees
x4=
(kg CO2)
How much CO2 does it take?
The table below shows how much CO2 these everyday gadgets use. How much
of these gadgets’ CO2 could have been absorbed by the trees in your school?
How long could you use each gadget for?
Kilograms of CO used
Kilograms of CO used
Hour
DayW
Hour
0.02
0.02
0.03
0.03
0.53
0.77
0.77
0.49
11.80
0.61
0.61
14.74
14.74
0.01
0.01
0.49
0.08
0.08
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.61
0.61
Student Resource
Investigation 4 - Trees
Day
0.53
11.80
eek
Week
3.72
3.72
5.39
5.39
82.57
Month
14.86
14.86
21.56
21.56
330.28
Year
Year
178.35
178.35
258.72
258.72
3963.33
330.28
3963.33
103.21
103.21
412.85
412.85
4954.16
4954.16
0.25
0.25
1.72
1.72
6.88
6.88
82.57
82.57
1.97
13.76
55.05
660.55
0.06
0.41
1.65
19.82
0.10
0.69
2.75
33.03
1.97
0.06
0.10
14.74
14.74
82.57
Month
13.76
0.41
0.69
103.21
103.21
55.05
1.65
2.75
412.85
412.85
660.55
19.82
33.03
4954.16
4954.16