• Question: have you researched carbondioxsid from chubbub

    Asked by chubbub to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Catherine Rix

      Catherine Rix answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      In some of my work I use dry ice, which is actually solid carbon dioxide. It’s really good if you need to make things very cold. Below minus sixty degrees carbon dioxide is a solid, above minus sixty degrees it turns straight into a gas. You have to wear special gloves when you handle dry ice because it can damage your skin because it is so cold.

    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      I do a bit of work on carbon dioxide as the atmosphere of Mars is mostly CO2. It’s a fairly boring gas really, but can react with water to form methane, which is what I’m looking for.

      I also go scuba diving where carbon dioxide is one of the gases you have to worry about – if you work too hard you produce more CO2, which makes you more susceptible to oxygen toxicity (sounds a bit weird, but true!)

    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      No, because for the work that we do, CO2 is transparent so it doesn’t affect astronomy.

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      I don’t work with carbon dioxide at all. All of my experiments are looking at how much oxygen is available and how that changes the biology and chemistry of rocks.

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