A brilliant professor once told me that if you want to understand why carbon dioxide is important, you have to understand at least a tiny bit of the degree of complexity slightly below that topic.
Chemistry is the narrative of complexity that comes after biology. Unless you are a scientist, you would argue that it is biochemistry. To go through biology without issues, we will need to know a little bit of chemistry.
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All about Carbon, the small, kind, and trampy Atom
Why would i call Carbon small? I mean, even for an atom, that’s just a tiny atom.
It has six protons and six neutrons, giving twelve atomic weights. As a result, Carbon does not take up a lot of space. Carbon forms bizarre rings, sheets, spirals, double, and even triple bonds.
It can perform things that larger and bulkier atoms could never do. It is like the atomic equivalent of an Olympic gymnast. It can only accomplish those lovely, beautiful, and exquisite things because it is tiny.
I also stated that Carbon is kind, an unusual statement about an atom. It is not like some other atoms urgently seeking to fill up their electron orbitals. Carbon understands what it is like to be alone, unlike fluorine, chlorine, or sodium, so it is not all that needy.
Elements like chlorine, if inhaled, physically rip up your insides. And sodium, sodium is horrible! When you put it in water, it explodes!
Carbon, on the other hand, not so much. It wants more electrons, but it will not kill for them. It forms and breaks ties like a 14-year-old teen, and it never holds a grudge.
Carbon is also, as previously said, a bit of a tramp because it requires four more electrons and will bind with pretty much anyone who happens to be there. Because it requires four electrons, it will tie with two, three, or even four of those objects simultaneously. And Carbon is willing and interested in connecting with a wide range of molecules, including hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, nitrogen, and other Carbon molecules.
It can do this in infinite arrangements allowing it to be the core atom of complex structures that make living things like ourselves. Because Carbon is this ideal mix of small, kind, and trampy, life is entirely based on this element.
Why Carbon Dioxide is Important for us
Carbon is the foundation of biology. Scientists must have a pretty tricky time conceiving life that isn’t based on Carbon. Life is only possible on Earth because Carbon is constantly flowing around in our atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.
If you know that all life is based on Carbon, you might understand why carbon dioxide is important.
Carbon dioxide is also known as a greenhouse gas that helps to trap heat in our atmosphere. Thats another thing qhy carbon dioxide is important for our planet. Without carbon dioxide, our planet would be inhospitably cold.
Carbon dioxide also plays an important part in the Earth’s carbon cycle, which is a complex of mechanisms that circulates carbon in various forms throughout our environment.
Carbon dioxide is consumed during photosynthesis, the biological process by which plants and certain microorganisms produce food.
Another reason why carbon dioxide is important in the Earth system is that it dissolves into the ocean and reacts with water molecules, producing a carboxylic acid and lowering the ocean’s pH.
How many Particles are in Carbon Dioxide?
Carbon on its own is an atom with six protons, six neutrons, and six electrons.
Atoms contain electron shells that must be filled to have happy, satisfied atoms. So Carbon has six electrons—two for the first shell, so it is completely satisfied, and four of the eight are required to fill the second shell.
Carbon forms have a covalent connection when atoms share electrons. So, in the case of methane, the simplest carbon molecule is known; Carbon shares its four electrons in its outer electron shell with four hydrogen atoms.
Carbon shares its four electrons with those four hydrogens, and each of those four hydrogens shares one electron with Carbon, so everyone is comfortable.
Because atoms seek to conduct their octets of electrons to be happy and content, oxygen has six electrons in an octet and requires two, resulting in H2O. It can also bind with Carbon, which requires four bonds, resulting in two double bonds to two distinct oxygen atoms and the formation of CO2: that troublesome global warming gas and the thing that allows all life on Earth to exist.
Nitrogen’s outer shell has five electrons. Here’s how we count them: there are four placeholders, each of which wants two atoms, and, like passengers getting on a bus, they would not like to sit next to each.
I am not kidding; they do not double up until necessary. So, for the most enjoyment, nitrogen binds with three hydrogens, making ammonia or two hydrogens, forming an amino group. And an amino acid is formed when an amino group is connected to a carbon bonded to a carboxylic acid group.
What is a non-polar covalent bond?
Periodically electrons are shared equally within a covalent bond like with O2. That’s called a non-polar covalent bond. But often, one of the participants is more greedy.
What is a polar covalent bond?
In water, for example, the oxygen molecules pull the electrons in, and they spend more time with the oxygen than with the hydrogens resulting in a little positive charge around the hydrogens and a slight negative charge around the oxygen.
When anything has a charge, we call it polar. Because it has a positive and negative pole, it is a polar covalent bond.
Now, for a minute, consider a completely different form of bond: an ionic bond. An ion is an atom with a charge. And that is when, instead of exchanging electrons, atoms entirely, wholeheartedly contribute or take one electron from another atom and then live merrily as a charged atom.
Atoms like to remain neutral in general, although it is not a significant concern compared to having a complete octet. Atoms will occasionally compromise that octet, just as people must choose between being emotionally balanced and sexually pleased. Salt is the most ubiquitous ionic component in our daily life.
What is the hydrogen bond?
Because water is held together by a polar covalent connection, the hydrogen atom is positively charged, and the oxygen atom is negatively charged. So, as water molecules move about, we usually conceive of them as a perfect fluid, but they cling together slightly: hydrogen-side to oxygen-side.
These fragile hydrogen bonds occur in many chemical compounds; they are not limited to water. They may play an incredibly essential function in proteins, which are the molecules that make up most of our bodies.
An important point to mention is that bonds, even covalent bonds and ionic bonds, have a wide range of strengths, and we tend to express them with a single line, which can indicate a solid covalent link or a fragile covalent bond. Ionic bonds are sometimes stronger than covalent ones. However, this is not always the case, and the strength of covalent connections varies greatly.
How these connections are formed and destroyed is crucial to life and our existence. Making and breaking links is, in reality, the key to life—and, conversely, the key to death, as would be the case if you ingested any sodium metal.
As we progress through biology, keep this in mind: even the sexiest person you have ever met is merely a jumble of chemical molecules writhing around in a bag of water.
Effects of Carbon Dioxide on the Environment
A rise in carbon dioxide produces an excess of greenhouse gases, which trap heat. This stored heat causes ice caps to melt and ocean levels to rise, resulting in floods.
Carbon dioxide is emitted primarily by combustible fossil fuels such as coal, power plant gas, oil, cars, and massive industry.
Greenhouse gas emissions have far-reaching environmental and health consequences. They contribute to climate change and respiratory ailments due to smog and air pollution. Other implications of climate change produced by greenhouse gases include extreme weather, food supply shortages, and increasing wildfires.
If you want to know more about the effects of carbon dioxide to our environment, we suggest the following articles:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/greenhouse-gases
