An image attached to Jan. 12 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows clouds spelling out "CO2" against a blue sky.
"CO2 has a molecular weight of just over 44 while air – mainly oxygen and nitrogen – has a molecular weight of only 29," reads the post. "The specific gravity of CO2 is some 1.5 times greater than air. That would suggest that CO2 exhaust gases from vehicles or power plants do not rise into the atmosphere some 12 miles or more above Earth to form the feared greenhouse effect."
It was liked nearly 7,000 times in two weeks.
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Gases – including CO2 – are constantly moving around and mixing in the lower levels of the atmosphere regardless of their weight, experts said. If gases were in stratified layers and CO2 sunk below oxygen, humans would not be able to breathe. Carbon dioxide is one of the main contributors to the greenhouse gas effect.
It's true that carbon dioxide has a higher molecular weight than oxygen and nitrogen, said Suzanne Paulson, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic science at the University of California in Los Angeles.
However, it still rises into the atmosphere.
The homosphere, which extends about 60 miles from the ground, is an area where gases are mixed and do not separate by their mass, Paulson said. This is partly caused by wind...
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