Define Carbon dioxide for me and how does affect global warming ?? Thanks?

Question

Im just trying to understand a lil bit more..

Answer 1

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has increased by 35% since the time of industrialization, from about 280 ppm[1] to 385 ppm[2]. This increase is fully the fault of mankind.[3]

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Two hundred years of scientific understanding[4] says that greenhouse gases trap energy/heat (in the form of infrared radiation) close to Earth's surface. Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases increase global temperatures.

CO2 is produced naturally through ways such as animal respiration. The anthropogenic (man made) sources of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases include FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTION, land use changes, and deforestation. Other greenhouse gases have likewise increased due to man's activities.

Answer 2

Carbon dioxide is necessary for plant growth and it causes climate to become cooler when the levels rise. Overall it doesn't really affect global warming. The earth was cooling in the 60's and 70's. It was warming in the 80's and 90's. It has been stable the last several years. Most of the global warming film and debates you see are dated from the late 90's.

Humans do not have a huge affect on this. Animals and insects have been using up oxygen and creating carbon dioxide since forever. Average global temperatures have always fluxuated and never been stable.....ever. The sun goes through cycles of hotter and colder is most of the reason. After all, the sun is a gigantic ball of nuclear fire not an electronic device with stable output. Of course you know the earth is a big rock that hurtles through space at 27,000 mph and slams in to meteors and comets all day. It is irrational to believe temperatures could maintain long term stability under these conditions.

Answer 3

first, my apologies.  this got way, way longer than i like.

but i'm not sure what i want to cut out.  :-(

carbon dioxide is what you get when you burn carbon,

just like water is what you get when you burn hydrogen.

coal is almost all carbon.

oil and natural gas are made of carbon and hydrogen, with natural gas having a higher percentage of hydrogen.

when carbon  ( C ) burns (combines with oxygen) it releases energy, and makes carbon dioxide  ( CO2 )

when hydrogen  ( H ) burns, it makes water  ( H2O ).

water's cool.  CO2 is not.

without any water, the earth would be frozen solid, even at the equator.

however, when we burn hydrogen, it doesn't change the water balance in the atmosphere.

when we burn carbon, it does change the CO2 balance in the atmosphere -- and it makes the planet even warmer.

not a lot warmer, but it doesn't take a lot to make very large changes.

these links show the science.  they say about the same thing:

http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/clim...  <== here's a good description.

http://www.funnyweather.org/  <== this is a more lighthearted link.

the way CO2 warms the planet is that it prevents heat from escaping, mostly at night.

maybe you've noticed that when it's cloudy at night it doesn't get as cold.

CO2 does the same thing.

what happens is that CO2 interacts with specific frequencies of radiation.

generally CO2 does not interact with visible or ultraviolet radiation.

so energy from the sun comes to the earth as usual.

CO2 does, however, interact with infrared radiation.

it does this by absorbing, and then re-emitting infrared radiation.

when CO2 re-emits heat (infrared radiation we feel as heat) it does so in a random direction.

however, most of what it absorbs comes from the earth, and 50% goes back to the earth.

even though there's not a huge increase in the amount of CO2, there is enough to change the balance of how much heat escapes.

that is the problem, and is the cause of the disagreement you see here and in other media.

some deny it's a problem.

some say it's not happening.

some say it's a good thing.

none of those is true.

it is happening, and it is not a good thing.

you've heard of the problem in Darfur.

it's probably the result of climate change, brought about by the additional CO2 in the atmosphere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

<<Two decades ago, the rains in southern Sudan began to fail. According to U.N. statistics, average precipitation has declined some 40 percent since the early 1980s. Scientists at first considered this to be an unfortunate quirk of nature. But subsequent investigation found that it coincided with a rise in temperatures of the Indian Ocean, disrupting seasonal monsoons. This suggests that the drying of sub-Saharan Africa derives, to some degree, from man-made global warming.

It is no accident that the violence in Darfur erupted during the drought. Until then, Arab nomadic herders had lived amicably with settled farmers. A recent Atlantic Monthly article by Stephan Faris describes how black farmers would welcome herders as they crisscrossed the land, grazing their camels and sharing wells. But once the rains stopped, farmers fenced their land for fear it would be ruined by the passing herds. For the first time in memory, there was no longer enough food and water for all. Fighting broke out. By 2003, it evolved into the full-fledged tragedy we witness today.>>

Answer 4

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. It is currently at a globally averaged concentration of approximately 387 ppm by volume in the Earth's atmosphere,[1] although this is increasing due to human activity[citation needed]. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide fluctuate slightly with the change of the seasons, falling during the spring and summer as plants consume the gas, and rising during the fall and winter as plants go dormant, die and decay. Carbon dioxide makes up approximately 95.7% of Mars' atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is greenhouse gas because it transmits visible light but absorbs strongly in the infrared and near-infrared.

Carbon dioxide is produced by all animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms during respiration and is used by plants during photosynthesis. This is to make sugars which may either be consumed again in respiration or used as the raw material to produce cellulose for plant growth. 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.

Answer 5

carbon dioxide is C 02 so it has a carbon center with two 0 molecules attached and then two free electrons to interact. it is produced by fossil fules, exhaling, and coal. It causes global warming while in the atmosphere by reflecting the sun's rays that have already penetrated the atmousphere back to earth (where they bounced off from) like a game of squash.

Answer 6

Carbon Dioxide comes from the ocean..salt heats in the sun and slowly turns into a aporliquid called tillism..in which it then goes up to outer space and is then turned to oxymoroticus and sucked back to earth by gravity..once back on earth it forms clouds called cumunimbizkitis that make rain water..the rain water from these is then flushed back to the ocean from are water ways...this process is called carbon Dioxide!

Answer 7

it's a greenhouse gas ie it acts like a greenhouse reflecting heat back to earth.

Answer 8

>Carbon dioxide is a molecule composed o foneatom of carbon and two atoms of oxygen--hence thechemical formula CO2.

>CO2 acts as a greenhouse gas. The physics of this are a bit complicated--but in practice it acts as a blanket--trappping heat that would otherwise be radiated off into space.

>There is a normal level of CO2--and other gases like water vapor--in the atmosphere. They help keep the earth warm and at a stable temperature.

>normally  the amount of greenhouse gasses, including CO2, are stable--and the resultis that temeratures on average tend to be stable (not--that's AVERAGE temperatures; obviously we get considerable daily, regional, and seasonal variations).

>However, if you increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, you also  increase their ability to trap heat--so the average temperatures will start rising. That's the cause  four current global warming.

NOTE: it does not matter what the original level of greenhouse gazes was--the important part is that the level has changed.

NOTE: You will hear a lot of "ad hoc"  (a Latin term roughly meaning without any real basis) hypotheses  advanced by so-called skeptics to try to claim thee is a "debate" about the cause  of global warming. In fact, these people have yet to think up a "possible cause" that scientists didn't already think of, test for, and rule out years ago.

Hope that helps! :)

Answer 9

When carbon is burned the result is CO2.  It has no effect on earth's temperatures.  Some people would disagree, but I suggest you don't listen to them.  They'll also tell you that the polar ice cap will melt this summer and somehow call their reasoning ''scientific''!!

Answer 10

Carbon dioxide is a gas released when animals breath and also when fossil fuels and anything "vegetable" is burned, like wood and plants. Volcanoes emit large amounts too.

It only makes up .035% of the Earth's atmosphere, which makes it important for the Earth's carbon cycle, but not significant to the Earth's temperature.  Water vapor is the most important green house gas...just walk back into your bathroom after taking a hot shower and its obvious.  Some say co2 affects Earth's temperature, but I think its fairly insignificant.

I'm all for cleaner air and alternative fuels, but I don't like how this "theory" has somehow become fact for so many people.  But, we all think what we think and that's just my opinion.