[Stoves] on ocean acidification

Crispin Pemberton-Pigott crispinpigott at gmail.com
Sat Jul 6 03:25:35 CDT 2013


Dear Frank

I want to get the math of this correct. The claim is that the oceans have changed pH from 8.2 to 8.1, that this is (at least in part or totally) caused by human emissions of CO2, right?  And further that this represents a '30% increase in acidity'. 

The method described asserts that it is a logarithmic scale and that the 30% and the term 'acidity' are appropriate. 

I would like to put this in perspective. If the 'acidity' rose 15,800% then the oceans would be Neutral, neither acidic nor alkaline using conventional terminology. 

As oceans vary from about 8.4 to 7.8 that is a natural variation of '400%', using the same definition as is applied in the case of '30%'. 

In the case of rain, which has a CO2 content of over 10,000 ppm it is '50,000% more acidic' than ocean water at pH 8.2. In fact rain really is acidic. 

Seems to me that if '30%' is catastrophic the EPA should ban rainfall with immediate effect. It is obviously wrecking the ocean.  

Regards
Crispin
From BB9900

-----Original Message-----
From: "Frank Shields" <frank at compostlab.com>
Sender: "Stoves" <stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 10:29:22 
To: 'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'<stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Reply-To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
	<stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Stoves] on ocean acidification

This is a very good topic and related to Stoves to the point of noting the
difference of a measure of Biochar pH value and alkalinity value. The pH is
really not that important as many think it is. It's the alkalinity that is
important. Having a water with a pH of 8.3 takes little acid to lower the pH
but toss in a chunk of lime and the pH is still 8.3 but you will need to add
acid until all the lime is dissolved before the pH goes down. So pH is just
a reading. Alkalinity (or neutralizing value) is a measure of the amount of
buffering holding that pH. We report this as CaCO3 equivalent units so it
can be compared to adding limestone to a soil. We boil a Biochar sample in
100 mls of 0.5N HCl to dissolve all the carbonates and oxides in the sample
then back titrate using NaOH to determine the amount buffering (or
neutralizing value) the sample has.  Much more useful.     

Frank


Thanks 

Frank Shields

BioChar Division
Control Laboratories, Inc. 
42 Hangar Way
Watsonville, CE  95076

(831) 724-5422 tel
(81) 724-3188 fax
frank at biocharlab.com
www.controllabs.com





-----Original Message-----
From: Stoves [mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of
ajheggie at gmail.com
Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2013 11:47 PM
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
Subject: Re: [Stoves] on ocean acidification

On Thu, 04 Jul 2013 23:21:20 -0600,Mark Bigland-Pritchard / Low Energy
Design Ltd <mark at lowenergydesign.com> wrote:

>I wouldn't normally want to post off-topic, but I think it is necessary 
>that an error be corrected before this thread is put to sleep.

Mark I'm happy with your correction explaining pH. As we generally do use pH
to denote acidity rather than hydrogen ions I think it is misleading to then
say a 30% increase in hydrogen ion activity equates to a 30% change in
acidity.

I think change in ocean ecology due to this small change in pH is a very
serious concern but please all of you take the discussion elsewhere and
stick to stove issues.

AJH

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