# All the CO2 removed from atmosphere **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2013, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933 "2013-06-02T10:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933/21 "2013-06-04T15:21:11Z")
Depending on how much the current CO2 levels contribute to warmth I’m not sure the earth would get warmer. Which reflects more light/energy back into space? Plants or bare dirt after everything dies? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933/22 "2013-06-04T15:38:53Z")
Missed edit window. Cooler, not warmer ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933/23 "2013-06-04T20:55:28Z")
Plants have a slightly lower albedo than bare rock on average, and ice has a much higher albedo. So ice on bare rock would be much brighter than a planet covered in vegetation. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Ayebaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darth_ayebaw/32/9870_2.png) [@Darth\_Ayebaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Ayebaw)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933/24 "2013-06-05T13:36:39Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Many mammals, at least humans, or possibly other vertebrates (I’m not sure of the extent) will die in their sleep. Your carotid process (tissue surrounding the carotid artery in your neck) constantly “tastes” your blood for pH caused by dissolved CO2. If there’s none there, it will tell your brain’s breathing center there is plenty of oxygen in your blood, and to go ahead and slow down or stop breathing. Awake people will feel dizzy and faint and force themselves to pant, but there must be the typical CO2 in the air when people sleep – our spacecraft engineers have to be very careful of this when they design the air-scrubbers. I know it sounds utterly bass-ackwards, but our bodies can’t test for “enough oxygen in the blood”, it can only test for, “most of the CO2 is gone.” Then how do you explain survival in the pure oxygen atmosphere in space suits, or in the Mercury/Gemini programs? Or in hyperbaric chambers? Or other uses of a nitrogen/oxygen mix (no CO2) in low oxygen environments here on earth? And if the CO2 from your breath is enough to counteract the supposed effect, then why wouldn’t it apply in this threads scenario? I’m genuinely curious of this supposed phenomenon and would appreciate a cite if you’ve got one. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933/25 "2013-06-05T18:46:00Z")
> [@Darth\_Ayebaw](#): > > Then how do you explain survival in the pure oxygen atmosphere in space suits, or in the Mercury/Gemini programs? Or in hyperbaric chambers? Or other uses of a nitrogen/oxygen mix (no CO2) in low oxygen environments here on earth? And if the CO2 from your breath is enough to counteract the supposed effect, then why wouldn’t it apply in this threads scenario? I’m genuinely curious of this supposed phenomenon and would appreciate a cite if you’ve got one. Sorry, I’m at a loss for citations. I did a bit of searching on Wikipedia, but no easy citation. I suppose I could conjecture that no one fell asleep during shuttle EVA, the Gemini/Mercury missions. But I don’t know if a trace of CO2 is introduced into oxygen tents. I’d simply been taught that the CO2 in your blood controls your breathing center, and its unsafe to fall asleep in an area with _ **too** _ efficient CO2 scrubbing. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933/26 "2013-06-05T19:06:43Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Sorry, I’m at a loss for citations. I did a bit of searching on Wikipedia, but no easy citation. I suppose I could conjecture that no one fell asleep during shuttle EVA, the Gemini/Mercury missions. But I don’t know if a trace of CO2 is introduced into oxygen tents. I’d simply been taught that the CO2 in your blood controls your breathing center, and its unsafe to fall asleep in an area with _ **too** _ efficient CO2 scrubbing. Refer to my posts #19 and #20. As far as I can tell, there will be enough CO2 in your blood even if the outside environment has none. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933/27 "2013-06-05T19:55:51Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Many mammals, at least humans, or possibly other vertebrates (I’m not sure of the extent) will die in their sleep. Your carotid process (tissue surrounding the carotid artery in your neck) constantly “tastes” your blood for pH caused by dissolved CO2. If there’s none there, it will tell your brain’s breathing center there is plenty of oxygen in your blood, and to go ahead and slow down or stop breathing. Awake people will feel dizzy and faint and force themselves to pant, but there must be the typical CO2 in the air when people sleep – our spacecraft engineers have to be very careful of this when they design the air-scrubbers. I know it sounds utterly bass-ackwards, but our bodies can’t test for “enough oxygen in the blood”, it can only test for, “most of the CO2 is gone.” Granted I was only an EMT but suppression of respiratory rate with oxygen is only a major concern with COPD patients who become more dependent on hypoxic drive to keep them breathing. Hypoxic drive is only about 10% of the total drive to breathe so high oxygen will not suppress your respirations significantly unless you already have malfunctioning CO2 chemoreceptors. Asthmatics would be screwed, but normal healthy folks might slow down a bit but they would not die. If O2 levels start exceeding 40% you will have other problems but elimination of atmospheric CO2 is not going to kill us like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-the-co2-removed-from-atmosphere/659933.md?page=1)