On Jan 15, 7:49 pm, okc chemist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "inorganic carbon" ...
I wouldn't use the term, but it's explained there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inorganic_compound
"Inorganic carbon compounds
Many compounds that contain carbon are considered inorganic; for
example, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbonates, cyanides,
cyanates, carbides, and thyocyanates. In general, however, workers in
these areas are not concerned about strict definitions...."
It's not an important distinction at least since urea was synthesized
(grin).
And it's not used in climate science, as far as I know, at all. It
may come up confusing people when talking about the difference between
actively cycling carbon in the biosphere, and fossil carbon tied up
geochemically whether as coal, petroleum, or minerals. For that see
"biogeochemical cycling" and it matters for the long term.
The term hasn't anything to do with C-14 ratios; those do tell us how
long carbon has been buried and are a marker for the increase in
atmospheric CO2 caused by burning that "fossil fuel" -- Weart's
History at the AIP covers that.
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