Clues to Trapping Carbon Dioxide in Rock

This article is all about how calcium carbonate is considered to be one of the most important molecules on earth. This molecule is most commonly known for crystalizing into substances like chalk and becomes minerals across the world. However, a knew experiment was conducted using a microscope by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which allowed scientists to obtain a better understanding at how these crystals were formed. Calcium carbonate is found in rocks all over, and contains the largest abundance of carbon throughout the world (responsible for CO₂ emissions worldwide). The purpose for this experiment was to research how this molecule stores carbon dioxide in calcium carbonate, thus, scientists could use their understanding of this process to prevent CO₂ from being released into the atmosphere. In order to research this, scientists observed how much concentration of particular elements it required to see how they crystalize. One of the key parts of information from this experiment is that multiple different substances crystalize at different rates and in different steps. The scientists in the future hope to obtain more information on other specific mineral components.  This article was interesting to me because it shows carbon dioxide can form in ways that we never would have thought of before and that harmful emissions can be prevented based on those formations.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140904141801.htm

Submitted by Josh Happ