Chemistry+of+Bovine+flatulence

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====** The Chemistry of Bovine Flatulence **  ====

By Emma Hoyle, Diva Evans, and Ryan Bergeron
 media type="custom" key="2986416" __Table of Contents__ I. __Summarization of Bovine Flatulence__ II. __Slide Show of a Bovine's Digestive Tack__ III. __Importance__ IV. __Table of Methane Emissions__ V. __Chemistry of Bovine Flatulence__ VI. __Bovine Flatulence as a Greenhouse Gas__ VII. __How our Page Relates__ VIII. __Citation__

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__I. Summarization of Bovine Flatulence__
  Although it is believed that cows are the only cause of methane, an estimate has been created that bovine only crease a small portion of emissions when compared to those of man. The sixty percent of methane emissions caused by man are created through cows, fossil fuel production, and fermentation in livestock as well as manure management, the cultivation of rice, biomass burning and waste management. Even though man made emissions account for more than half of all methane, natural sources of emissions are created due to wetlands, permafrost, termites, oceans, freshwater bodies, and wildfires. While carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas, methane is the second most important. According to the IPCC, methane is more than twenty times as effective as carbon dioxide at trapping heat within the atmosphere. This gas should be considered greatly when contemplating global warming, as it has a warming potential of twenty-five degrees over a period of one hundred years. This means that methane emissions will have about twenty-five times the impact on temperature of carbon dioxide emissions. As methane has a large effect for a brief amount of time, with a lifetime of 8.4 years in the atmosphere, whereas carbon dioxide has a small effect for a long period of time. Because of this difference, methane has had a greater affect in the last two hundred and fifty years. Since 1750, the earth’s methane concentration has increased by about one hundred and fifty percent and accounts for twenty percent of all radioactive forces [[|Document C]]. Usally, excess methane from landfills and other natural producers of methane are burned so CO2 is released into the atmosphere instead of methane because methane is such a more effective greenhouse gas [[|Document E]]. 

__II. Slide Show of a Bovine's Digestive Track__
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__III. Importance__
 Unfortunately, methane production is twenty percent of atmospheric greenhouse gas associated with global warming. Emissions have increased over eleven percent in the last ten years [[|Document A]]. This gas is twenty three times more effective at trapping heat within the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. [[|Document B]]. Luckily, scientists are realizing the possible impact that methane has on our society when paired with global warming. Experiments have been occurring to try to reduce the methane output from bovine as well as finding ways to trap the methane or use it as an alternate source of fuel. Within Europe, the genome of the microbe responsible for the creation of methane during the digestive process of cows has been located. This discovery paves the way for a vaccine against bovine flatulence [[|Document D]]. Over thirty percent of Argentina’s greenhouse emissions are created by cows. In this country, scientists are attempting to create new diets that decrease cattle’s emissions of methane. In fact, by switching the cattle’s main source of food to clover instead of grain, emissions of methane have decreased by twenty percent [[|Document B]]. Other tips for decreasing emissions of methane include; testing feed and creating balanced rations, preventing under or over feeding, using high quality forages, and feeding legumes to cattle instead of grain or hay. It is stated that, “This is possible because the carbohydrate fraction in young immature plants and legume species is more readily digested in the gut. Rapid breakdown of carbohydrates, coupled with a faster passage of digested feed from the fore stomach, causes a shift in the fermentation pattern towards lowered methane gas production” [[|Document A]]. The pollution that is caused by bouvine flatulence also washes down to sea, killing coral reefs- home to much fish life- and creating "dead zones"devoid of life. On is up to 21,000sqkm in the Gulf of Mexico, where much of the waste from the US beef production id carried fown the Mississippi. A report in England concludes that, unless drastic changes are made, the massive damage done by livestock will more than double by 2050, as demand for meat increases By taking these precautions and creating these changes within farms across the country and world, emissions of methane can be cut back drastically, helping to decrease global warming one step at a time [[|Document J]]. 


 * <span style="color: rgb(33,83,242); font-size: 120%;">__ IV. Table of Methane Emissions __ **

<span style="color: rgb(0,66,255); font-size: 120%;">__ ** V. Chemistry of Bovine Flatulence ** __ As cows graze, and eat their food, this food begins to travel down the esophagus and into their stomachs. The acids in their stomachs can break down most of the food that they eat, but there are certain foods that their stomachs cannot break down. The food that cannot be broken down leads to flatulence, because at the lower part of a cows intestines lives bacteria that feeds on this undigested food, and as a result, its excriments appear in a gasseous form. Intestinal gas is made up of 90% exogenous gas and 10% endogenous gas. The endogenous gasses are a result of eating certain foods that the lower intestinal bacteria can thrive on, especially ones high in complex carbohydrates such as beans, milk, potatoes, chestnuts, and broccoli, while the exogenous gas is made mostly of inhaled gasses such as nitrogen or oxygen. In foods, the endogenous gasses come from oligosaccharides, carbs that are resistant to digestion. As they pass through the gastrointestinal digestive tract, they remain mostly unchanged and once they reach the lower intestines, bacteria begin to feed on these digestive resistant carbohydrates, and as they feed, copious gas is produced, combining the exogenous gas and the endogenous gas resulting in flatulence. Most of the gasses released are non-odorous and can either be ingested or created by bacteria inside of the body. Gasses created are methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. Methane is cause by bacteria at the anal opening, and both methane and hydrogen are flammable. The smells associated with flatulence are not due to these gasses, but are a result of butyric acid and sulfur compounds and carbon disulfide, all are results of protein breakdowns [[|Document G]].
 * Table 1 U.S. Methane Emissions by Source (TgCO2 Equivalents)**
 * ~ Source Category ||~ 1990 ||~ 1997 ||~ 1998 ||~ 1999 ||~ 2000 ||~ 2001 ||~ 2002 ||~ 2003 ||
 * Landfills || 172.2 || 147.4 || 138.5 || 134.0 || 130.7 || 126.2 || 126.8 || 131.2 ||
 * Natural Gas Systems || 128.3 || 133.6 || 131.8 || 127.4 || 132.1 || 131.8 || 130.6 || 125.9 ||
 * Enteric Fermentation || 117.9 || 118.3 || 116.7 || 116.8 || 115.6 || 114.5 || 114.6 || 115.0 ||
 * Coal Mining || 81.9 || 62.6 || 62.8 || 58.9 || 56.2 || 55.6 || 52.4 || 53.8 ||
 * Manure Management || 31.2 || 36.4 || 38.8 || 38.8 || 38.1 || 38.9 || 39.3 || 39.1 ||
 * Wastewater Treatment || 24.8 || 31.7 || 32.6 || 33.6 || 34.3 || 34.7 || 35.8 || 36.8 ||
 * Petroleum Systems || 20.0 || 18.8 || 18.5 || 17.8 || 17.6 || 17.4 || 17.1 || 17.1 ||
 * Rice Cultivation || 7.1 || 7.5 || 7.9 || 8.3 || 7.5 || 7.6 || 6.8 || 6.9 ||
 * Stationary Sources || 7.8 || 7.4 || 6.9 || 7.1 || 7.3 || 6.7 || 6.4 || 6.7 ||
 * Abandoned Coal Mines || 6.1 || 8.1 || 7.2 || 7.3 || 7.7 || 6.9 || 6.4 || 6.4 ||
 * Mobile Sources || 4.8 || 4.0 || 3.9 || 3.6 || 3.4 || 3.1 || 2.9 || 2.7 ||
 * Petrochemical Production || 1.2 || 1.6 || 1.7 || 1.7 || 1.7 || 1.4 || 1.5 || 1.5 ||
 * Iron and Steel || 1.3 || 1.3 || 1.2 || 1.2 || 1.2 || 1.1 || 1.0 || 1.0 ||
 * Agricultural Residue Burning || 0.7 || 0.8 || 0.8 || 0.8 || 0.8 || 0.8 || 0.7 || 0.8 ||
 * **Total for U.S.** || **605.3** || **579.5** || **569.3** || **557.3** || **554.2** || **546.7** || **542.3** || **544.9** ||

<span style="text-align: center; font-family: Battle Beast; color: rgb(18,101,175);">__** Hero ( a haiku) **__ My Bovine hero, from high atop the mountain, strong and wise and proud. -Clover [[|Document F]]

<span style="color: rgb(0,101,255); font-size: 60%;">__ VI. Bovine Flatulence as a Greenhouse Gas __
<span style="color: rgb(0,0,0); font-size: 90%;">There are many different compounds found in the atmosphere of the earth that are considered greenhouse gases, the flatulence of bovines (and ourselves) being one of them. These are gases that allow sunlight to freely enter the atmosphere. When this sunglight strikes the Earth's surface, some of the energy is once again readiated back towards space as infrared radiation, or heat. The greenhouse gases absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the atmosphere [[|Document H]]. Although these gases are important to keep the earth at a reasonable temperature, the concern is that the amount of these gases is increasing. This will therefore lead to an increase in the earth's temperature with various climactic changes as consequence [[|Document I]].

<span style="color: rgb(0,101,255); font-size: 130%;">__VII. How our Page Relates__
For more information about the chemistry of Bovine Flatulence, please visit our sister page, created by Casey and Kim where they discuss how Bovine Flatulence acts as a green house gas to cause global warming on our planet. While our page primarily focuses on the chemistry of the emission of flatulene itself, Casey and Kim's page states information on how the emission of flatulance causes global warming as a green house gas. If you are interested please click here to visit their page.

For more about global warming, the environmental science wiki-page discusses it in more general terms. You can visit that page here.

== Document A- Boadi, Dinah, and Karin Wittenberg. "Agricultural & Food Sciences - Farmers Independent Weekly March 4, 2004." __University of Manitoba__. 4 Mar. 2004. 15 Jan. 2009 <http://www.umanitoba.ca/afs/fiw/040304.html>. == == Document B- "Cow farts collected in plastic tank for global warming study." __Telegraph__ 9 July 2008. 15 Jan. 2009 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2274995/Cow-farts-collected-in-plastic-tank-for-global-warming-study.html#continue>. ==

Document E-"Global Warming: The Causes." __EcoBridge__. 20 Jan. 2009 http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm.
==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 90%;"> Document F-"Cow Poetry." __Free Website Hosting – Angelfire free website templates to make your own free website__. 20 Jan. 2009 []. == ==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 80%;">Document G- "US EPA - Methane: Sources and Emissions." __U.S. Environmental Protection Agency__. 19 Oct. 2006. 20 Jan. 2009 []. == == Document H- "EIA - Greenhouse Gases, Climate Change, and Energy." __Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government__. 05 Apr. 2009 <http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/greenhouse/Chapter1.htm>. == == Document I- "GREENHOUSE EFFECT/ greenhouse gases & global warming:computer illustration by Russell Kightley Media." __Science graphics: scientific illustration and animation. Russell Kightley Media__. 05 Apr. 2009 <http://www.rkm.com.au/GREENHOUSE/index.html> .== ==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 90%;">Document J- "Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet than CO2 from cars - Climate Change, Environment - The Independent." __The Independent | News | UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper__. 06 Apr. 2009 <http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cow-emissions-more-damaging-to-planet-than-cosub2sub-from-cars-427843.html>. ==