Yellowstone Biomass Burning Activity
How much CO₂ was released to the atmosphere from the 1988 Yellowstone fires?

Step 1 To arrive at an approximate answer to this question, students need to determine

• Number of moles of air in the atmosphere = 3.23x10²⁰ moles
• Moles of carbon from the fire = 3.33 x 10¹⁰ moles of C
  ( see Finding Carbon Released )

Step 2 To find the approximate number of moles of air, students need to determine

• Gram molecular weight of air in atmosphere =  29 g/mole
  ( see What is the gram molecular weight of the atmosphere? )
• Mass (grams) of the atmosphere =  5.76 x 10²¹g
  ( see How to Calculate the Mass of the Air in the Atmosphere )

Using the results of Steps (1) and (2) above, students can calculate the approximate amount of CO₂ ppm from the Yellowstone fires.

moles of carbon from the fire 3.33 x 10¹⁰ moles
moles of air in the atmosphere 1.98 x10²⁰ moles
times parts per million 10⁶ ppm

Activity Extension
Plot a graph showing density vs. altitude.
You may want to ask

1. How much air is within 500 meters of the earth's surface?
2. How fast does density drop?

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