Homework 1/13/11

Explain what happened in that mountain village we described in class. Your explanation will need to include detail that includes density and molecular weight of gases.

We discussed how there was a village in Africa in between a mountain and an old volcano with a lake on the other side of it. This old volcano had a lot of CO2 present. In this village, there was a house and people who had died. New people came and found these people dead, but were confused on how they died. There was no visible reason on why these people died. So the question is, how did they die? 


The CO2 drifted down into the village, which is a low-lying area. Then high CO2 levels get trapped in this low-lying area in between the mountain and the old volcano, causing the people to take in more CO2 then a body needs; causing them to die; "it typically becomes diluted to low concentrations very quickly whether it is released continuously from the ground or during episodic eruptions" http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php. If someone was so breathe in air that has more then 30% CO2, this can quickly induce unconsciousness and even cause death to a person.


CO2 gas is much heavier than air, giving it a molecular weight of 44.01; which means CO2 is more dense then the air (oxygen). Due to the people living in a trapped in area, they were not able to receive enough oxygen to rid the high levels of CO2.


The new people coming into the village could not find any identifiable source on why these people died because CO2 is a odorless and colorless gas.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php