Question

Deforestation and land use changes release carbon into the atmosphere at a rate of 1.1 Pg/year. 1 Pg (petagram) = 1 x 10^15 g, 365 days = 1 year.

a) How many grams of carbon are released per day due to deforestation?

Answer 1

Deforestation releases approximately 1.1 petagrams of carbon into the atmosphere each year. By dividing this annual amount by the number of days in a year, it is calculated that around 3.01 trillion grams of carbon are emitted per day due to deforestation.

Step-by-step explanation:

Deforestation and land use changes result in the significant release of carbon into the atmosphere. Specifically, deforestation releases 1.1 Pg of carbon per year into the atmosphere. To determine the daily release of carbon, we do the following calculation:

1.1 Pg/year = 1.1 x 1015 g/year

Now, we divide this yearly carbon release by the number of days in a year to find the daily release:

1.1 x 1015 g/year ÷ 365 days/year = 3.01 x 1012 g/day

Therefore, approximately 3.01 trillion grams of carbon are released into the atmosphere every day due to deforestation.