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There are roughly 720 billion metric tons of carbon in the atmosphere. An even bigger carbon sink is found in the oceans, which contain about 40 trillion metric tons. Human activities increase the amount of carbon stored in these reservoirs. The primary source of this increase is the combustion of fossil fuels, which generates about 6 billion metric tons of carbon per year. Deforestation adds an additional 2 billion metric tons annually. Whereas 25% of this flux ends up being absorbed by the oceans and another 25% is absorbed by plants, 50% stays in the atmosphere for the duration of its residence time. How much carbon will human activities add to the atmosphere over the course of five years

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A production of 17.5 × 10⁹ tonnes of carbon will be added to the atmosphere over the course of five years.

How to determine the potential carbon generation due to human activities

In accordance with the principle of mass conservation, mass is not created nor destroyed, just transformed as we infer from statement.

The total carbon generation due to human activities is the sum of the effects derived from the combustion of fossil fuels and the deforestation, whose total over the course of five years is:

[tex]x = (5\,years)\cdot \left(6\times 10^{9}\,\frac{t}{yr} + 2\times 10^{9}\,\frac{t}{yr} \right)[/tex]

[tex]x = 35\times 10^{9}\,t[/tex]

And the part of this production that will remain in the atmosphere during its residence time is:

[tex]x' = 0.5\cdot x[/tex]

[tex]x' = 17.5\times 10^{9}\,t[/tex]

A production of 17.5 × 10⁹ tonnes of carbon will be added to the atmosphere over the course of five years. [tex]\blacksquare[/tex]

To learn more on carbon dioxide, we kindly invite to check this verified question: https://brainly.com/question/3049557

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