Re: [Utah-astronomy] Why not just the carbon?

On Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 9:54 PM, Patrick Wiggins wrote:

If so, why hide away the oxygen with the carbon rather than just to carbon?

Good question. The technology for carbon fixation, in which carbon from CO2 is captured while releasing O2 to the atmosphere, is not new, but the process requires a reducing agent, typically water, in addition to energy. Fortunately, the required water doesn't have to be particularly pure; even muddy swampwater will usually suffice. The planet is littered with self-replicating machines which implement this technology. We call them plants. :-) Chris