CARBON DIOXIDE

Carbon Dioxide harms ocean life. The ocean has absorbed almost half of the carbon dioxide that humans have made in the last 200 years, which is about 118 billion metric tons. Carbon dioxide harms coral and free-swimming algae. The carbon dioxide makes it more difficult for coral to form their outer shells. How does the ocean gather carbon dioxide? When the currents stir the ocean by pulling deep water from the surface, where the carbon dioxide gets trapped. Carbon dioxide causes the greatest threat to the species that live on the top of the ocean water. That’s because that is where the currents gather the carbon dioxide. Cars can also cause pollution to the ocean, not directly, but indirectly. The car’s exhaust (which is carbon dioxide) is evaporated, which can cause acid rain, and will eventually make is way into the ocean. It’s the same thing with boat gasses and agricultural pollution (except with pesticides).

Carbon dioxide (chemical formula: CO2) is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state.

Carbon dioxide is used by plants during photosynthesis to make sugars which may either be consumed again in respiration or used as the raw material to produce polysaccharides such as starch and cellulose, proteins and the wide variety of other organic compounds required for plant growth and development. It is produced during respiration by plants, and by all animals, fungi and microorganisms that depend on living and decaying plants for food, either directly or indirectly. It is, therefore, a major component of the carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide is generated as a by-product of the combustion of fossil fuels or the burning of vegetable matter, among other chemical processes. Large amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted from volcanoes and other geothermal processes such as hot springs and geysers and by the dissolution of carbonates in crustal rocks.

Carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is at a concentration of 387 ppm by volume. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide fluctuate slightly with the change of the seasons, driven primarily by seasonal plant growth in the Northern Hemisphere. Concentrations of carbon dioxide fall during the northern spring and summer as plants consume the gas, and rise during the northern autumn and winter as plants go dormant, die and decay. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas as it transmits visible light but absorbs strongly in the infrared and near-infrared.

Carbon dioxide has no liquid state at pressures below 5.1 atm. At 1 atm the gas deposits directly to a solid at temperatures below -78 °C and the solid sublimes directly to a gas above -78 °C. In its solid state, carbon dioxide is commonly called dry ice.

CO2 is an acidic oxide: an aqueous solution turns litmus from blue to pink.

CO2 is toxic in higher concentrations: 1% (10,000 ppm) will make some people feel drowsy. Concentrations of 7% to 10% cause dizziness, headache, visual and hearing dysfunction, and unconsciousness within a few minutes to an hour.

from many resouces