Unconventional Science: Capturing Carbon With Fake Trees
CHAPTER ONE
CONTROLLING CARBON Dr Klaus Lackner teaches at Arizona demonstration in his laboratory State University He is giving a A large clear box sits on a table The box is a sealed greenhouse Inside the box are several plants Lackner opens a round door on the box He places a square of material inside The material looks like a piece of shaggy white rug Lackner locks the airtight door Next he turns to watch a monitor attached to the greenhouse The monitor shows the amount of carbon dioxide inside the greenhouse Immediately the carbon dioxide levels begin to rise Klaus Lackner’s greenhouse allows him to test carbon-capture technology
Carbon dioxide is a gas As plants grow they take in carbon dioxide from the air They use the gas to make food The plants in Lackner’s sealed greenhouse cannot get carbon dioxide from the air Yet they are thriving They get carbon dioxide from the shaggy square that Lackner places in the greenhouse ABSORBING CARBON The square is made of plastic Some of the plastic helps the square keep its shape It also holds tiny pieces of a special plastic called resin This resin can grab molecules from a liquid or gas When it’s A WINNING IDEA Klaus Lackner’s daughter Claire inspired his idea for capturing carbon As a middle school student Claire made an experiment to pull carbon dioxide from the air She used sodium hydroxide The chemical absorbs carbon dioxide Claire filled a test tube with the chemical Then she used an air pump to force air into the tube The sodium hydroxide absorbed the carbon dioxide from the air Claire entered her experiment in the science fair She won first prize Lackner began experimenting with capturing carbon himself
Lackner’s carbon-capture material can be made in different shapes dry this resin absorbs carbon dioxide But when the resin gets wet it releases the gas Lackner’s resin absorbed carbon dioxide from air in the lab Inside the
