News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on We should discuss soil as much as coal (2019). Parent comment

Re:We should discuss soil as much as coal (2019) by nvader on Monday August 17, 2020 @06:16PM (#24192876)
That's funny.

https://www.foodsource.org.uk/building-blocks/agricultural-m... claims

> it is a relatively short-lived GHG, with emissions breaking down after an average of around 10 years.

Looks like someone didn't understand what half-life means, or is being misleading.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:We should discuss soil as much as coal (2019) by projektfu on Monday August 17, 2020 @06:28PM (#24192993)
On average, a molecule of methane breaks down in less than 10 years. That is a true interpretation.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:We should discuss soil as much as coal (2019) by 07t15 on Monday August 17, 2020 @08:24PM (#24193943)
Half life implies that one half of the mehane molecules decay in that period (or that a single one has a 50% of decaying).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:We should discuss soil as much as coal (2019) by scaredginger on Monday August 17, 2020 @09:43PM (#24194459)
Depends on what 'average' you mean I guess. It is true for the median of course. However, if the time for an individual molecule to decay is exponentially distributed, you can solve for lambda to find its expected lifetime is 13.1 years. That being said, I'd say this is a less useful interpretation.
[ Parent | on HN ]