From: "Paul F. Dietz" <dietz@interaccess.com>
Newsgroups: sci.space.policy
Subject: Re: Breaking CO2 down to release oxygen.
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 06:32:14 -0600

Tom Billings wrote:

> If the CO2 requires more power to get O and CO, then the
> CO would be worse, I'd bet.  The first oxidation of the Carbon
> atom gives you 60 percent or more of the total energy, so
> I'd think that splitting it would require more as well.

Actually, the energy of formation of CO (from C and O2) is
less than half that of CO2.  This is why CO tends to
disproportionate to C and CO2 unless the temperature
is sufficiently high for entropy to drive the reaction
the other way.

	Paul