On 15/06/2019 18:10, TMS320 wrote:
On 15/06/2019 17:24, Keema's Nan wrote:

Remember also that methane breaks down (oxidises for the pedantic) into
various forms, the main ones being CO2 and Water Vapour which are both
efficient greenhouse gases. So, even though the methane may not last more
than 10-14 years, the elements which it turns into will be there much
longer.

I am sitting back as a spectator but I though I would point out a
trivial mistake. CO2 and H2O are compounds, not elements. I'm hoping
this correction pre-empts deniers that would hope to use the error as a
time wasting exercise in place of debate.

Let me speak up for Sorric on this occasion.

You are right about Co2 and H2 being chemical compounds rather than
chemical elements, but we use the word "elements" in at least two
distinct senses. One of them is derived directly from the technocrat's
world of chemistry as you say, but another is the ordinary everyday use
iof English as she is spoken in which "element" means nothing more
definite than "constituent parts". It is this second usage which, for
instance, allows lawyers to speak of the elements of an offence.

That's jogged my memory. There are at least three distinct senses of the
word "element" and this has been two of them.