Unconventional Science: Capturing Carbon With Fake Trees

Unconventional Science: Capturing Carbon With Fake Trees — page 5
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