Updated 25 Apr 2009

Overpopulation.

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Thomas MALTHUS 1766-1834

"The power of population is indefinitely greater than
the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man".

Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio.
Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.
A slight acquaintance with numbers will show the immensity
of the first power in comparison with the second.

[Malthus T.R. 1798. An essay on the principle of population. Chapter 1, p13] 

People:  P(t)=P0.e kt
Food:    F(t)=F0(1+kt)

Malthus delaying factors

  • 1800 Industrial Revolution
  • 1850 Mechanized agriculture
  • 1900 Haber-Bosch process
  • 1950 Globalization
  • 2000 Pandemics (HIV, flu)
  • 2050 ?

Bosch

Haber

Haber-Bosch process 1909

N2(g) + 3H2(g) = 2NH3(g), ΔH = -92.4 kJmol-1

  • The Haber process now produces 100 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer per year, mostly in the form of anhydrous ammonia, ammonium nitrate, and urea.
  • 3-5% of world natural gas production is consumed in the Haber process (1-2% of the world's annual energy supply).
  • That fertilizer is responsible for sustaining one-third of the Earth's population (2.3 billion people)





















Compiled, hand coded and copyright © 2008, John Palmer, All Rights Reserved.