Atmospheric Composition: The Composition of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide

The Earth’s early atmosphere is believed to have been mainly carbon dioxide with little or no
oxygen gas. The Earth’s atmosphere today contains around 21 percent oxygen and about 0.04
percent carbon dioxide. So how did the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere go down,
and the proportion of oxygen go up?
Increasing oxygen
Plants and algae can carry out photosynthesis. This process uses carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere (with water and sunlight) to produce oxygen (and glucose). The appearance of plants
and algae caused the production of oxygen, which is why the proportion of oxygen went up.
Carbon dioxide + water  glucose + oxygen
CO2 + H2O  C6H12O6 + 6O2
Decreasing carbon dioxide
Photosynthesis by plants and algae used carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but this is not the
only reason why the proportion of carbon dioxide went down. These processes also absorb
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere: dissolving in the oceans; the production of sedimentary
rocks such as limestone [calcium carbonate, CaCO3]; the production of fossil fuels from the
remains of dead plants and animals.
Today, the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere faster
than it can be removed. This means that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is
increasing, contributing to global warming. It also means that the oceans are becoming more
acidic as they dissolve increasing amounts of carbon dioxide. This has an impact on the marine
environment, for example making the shells of sea creatures thinner than normal.

The atmosphere - Test

1. Which is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere? Oxygen Nitrogen
Carbon dioxide

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2. Which was the most abundant gas in the early atmosphere? Oxygen
Nitrogen Carbon dioxide

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3. What is the approximate percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere today? 100 per cent 80
per cent 20 per cent

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 4. What caused the proportion of oxygen in the atmosphere to increase? Respiration
Photosynthesis Volcanic activity

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5. Which of the following is a reason for the decrease in carbon dioxide in the Earth's
atmosphere?
 Its reaction with oxygen
 It condensed to form the oceans
 It became locked up in fossil fuels and sedimentary
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Answers

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THE ATMOSPHERE: Percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere

OXYGEN: Without oxygen, we would quickly die. We need it for the process called
respiration, that goes on in all our cells:

glucose + oxygen  carbon dioxide + water + energy

The energy from respiration keeps us warm, and allows us to move, and enables hundreds of
different reactions to go on in our bodies. Respiration takes place in the cells of all living things.

Determining the percentage of oxygen in air

The percentage of oxygen in the air can be measured by passing a known volume of air over hot
copper and measuring the decrease in volume as the oxygen reacts with it. Here are the equations
for this reaction:
copper + oxygen → copper oxide 2Cu + O2  → 2CuO
Gas syringes are used to measure the volume of gas in the experiment. The starting volume of air
is often 100 cm3 to make the analysis of the results easy, but it could be any convenient volume.

The apparatus: A tube of hard glass is connected to two gas syringes A and B. The tube is
packed with small pieces of copper wire. At the start, syringe A contains 100 cm3 of air. B is
empty.

The method These are the steps:

1. Heat the tube containing copper using a Bunsen burner. Then push in A’s plunger, as
shown above. This forces the air into B. When A is empty, push in B’s plunger, forcing
the air back to A. Repeat several times. As the air is pushed to and fro, the oxygen in it
reacts with the hot copper, turning it black.
2. Stop heating the tube after about 3 minutes, and allow the apparatus to cool. Then push
all the gas into one syringe and measure its volume. (It is now less than 100 cm3.)
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until the volume of the gas remains steady. This means all the
oxygen has been used up. Note the final volume.

The results: Starting volume of air: 100 cm3. Final volume of air: 79 cm3. So the volume of
oxygen in 100 cm3 air is 21 cm3.

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Limitations: Note that there is some air in the tube with the copper turnings. The oxygen in this
air will also react with the hot copper, causing a small error in the final volume recorded. It is
also important to let the apparatus cool down at the end of the experiment, otherwise the final
reading will be too high.Since we cant do this experiment right now , the following url will
explain the procedure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2IYNT7BUTc

Activity: Simulation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/earth/earthsatmosphererev2.shtml

Finding the percentage of Oxygen in air

i. Write down the observations made as you watch the simulation

ii. Complete the following

Volume of the air at the start of the experiment =
Volume of the air at the end of the experiment =
Volume of oxygen removed during the experiment =

ii. Calculate the percentage of oxygen in air =

Questions

1. Describe the appearance of copper at the start and end of the experiment

2. Write down an equation (word and then chemical) for the reaction happening.

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3. Why is it important to have more copper than needed in the capillary tube?

4. Why is it necessary to wait for the capillary tube to cool at the end of the reaction?
TEST: THE ATMOSPHERE: Percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere

1. An experiment was set up as shown below:

The syringe on the left started with 100cm3 of air, the syringe on the right was empty.
The air is passed from syringe to syringe through the glass tube and over the hot copper.
This continues until there is no further change in the volume.

a) (i) State and explain hypothesis that could be investigated in this experiment. (2 mks)

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(ii) What would be made as the air passes over the hot copper? (1
mark)

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b) What volume of air would be left in the syringe at the end of the experiment? (2 mks)

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c) State and explain one limitation of this investigation. (2marks)

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d) Carbon dioxide is one of the gases found in the air. How can you test to see if a gas is
carbon dioxide? (2
marks)

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