Carbon dioxide in life

Carbon dioxide is a gas at standard temperature and pressure. It is

exists on Earth’s atmosphere. Most of the time carbon dioxide is gas state

and it spreads in the air all around us. Carbon dioxide is produced

everywhere. When people or animals exhale, they always produce carbon

dioxide. Carbon dioxide is also a trace gas which comprises 0.03 percent

of the atmosphere. We can write chemical formula of carbon dioxide as

CO2 which means two oxygen atoms covalent to one carbon atom.

Carbon dioxide is also important to scientist because they use carbon

dioxide to clean things and manufacture in better ways. Plants require

carbon dioxide to produce photosynthesis, plants use carbon dioxide to

produce sugar during photosynthesis which may be consumed in

respiration for producing other organic compounds to grow and develop

plant. Plants also emitted carbon dioxide during respiration. Greenhouses

may enrich their atmospheres with carbon dioxide to increase plant

growth. Carbon dioxide is generated by by-product of the combustion of

fossil fuel or the burning of vegetable matter. Volcanoes and other

geothermal processes such as geysers and hot spring send out the carbon

dioxide. Carbon dioxide has both advantages and disadvantages but it is

still important to human and animal’s life. People use and produce carbon

dioxide in different ways.

 A food, oil and the chemical industries use carbon dioxide. It is

used to produce for many consumers because it is inflammable and

cheap. We use carbon dioxide in liquid and solid form. Carbon dioxide is

often used for the food industry where it is employed during storage of

ice-cream and other frozen food as a refrigerant. Dry ice or solid carbon

dioxide is used for shipments where refrigerant equipment is not

practical. Life jackets contain canisters of pressuring of carbon dioxide.

Furthermore, a candy called Pop Rock is pressurized by carbon

dioxide. When we place the candy inside the mouth, it will dissolve and

the gas bubbles with the very noisy sound. For making beverages, carbon

dioxide is used to produce soft drinks and soda water. The carbonation in

beer come through natural fermentation, but many factories carbonate

these drinks artificially. Carbon dioxide is also used in coal bed methane

recovery, oil recovery, pharmaceuticals, welding pneumatic systems and

many other chemical processes.

On the other hand, if the atmosphere has too much carbon dioxide,

it will directly effect to our life. The main problem comes from the

factories because the factories release too much carbon dioxide to

atmosphere. It affects many things such as climate change which is long-

term changes on the weather pattern over the period of time. It changes

average weather conditions. Climate change may occur across the whole

Earth. Carbon dioxide is the factor that caused climate change along with
variations in solar radiation, deviations in the Earth's orbit, mountain-

building and continental drift and changes in greenhouse other gas

concentrations. Carbon dioxide is a cause of Greenhouse effect too. The

trapping of excess heat by the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in

the atmosphere and the process in which thermal radiation from a

planetary surface are absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is

re-radiated in all directions are we call “Greenhouse effect”. The carbon

dioxide strongly absorbs infrared and does not it to escape into space that

is why it will be a cause of the greenhouse effect.

Research from the BBC Weather Centre, in northern hemisphere

found out that the concentration of carbon dioxide has more increased

from the past where more fossil fuel burning occurs. Atmosphere carbon

dioxide is also come from natural sources, especially plants, the volcanic

eruption and animal respiration. Most of the carbon dioxide is removed

from the atmosphere by human. Nowadays the carbon dioxide is left only

0.03%.

In conclusion, carbon dioxide has both advantages and

disadvantages but it is depends on us to think what we should do. If we

care enough for living then we can make a better air for everyone. Carbon

dioxide is just a gas that we can not touch. It has not a specific shape. We

can not change the atmosphere but we can protect it and save it as much

as we can.
References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide

http://biocab.org/carbon_dioxide_CO2.html

www.uctc/papers/846.pdf

www.wisegreek.com/what-is-carbon-dioxide.html

www.science-house.org/CO2/activities/co2/index.html

www.bbc.co.uk/climate/evidence/carbon-dioxide.shtml