What is CO2?
CO2 is a non-toxic gas. Plants absorb it and convert it into biomass. It is returned to the atmosphere when human beings and animals breath out as well as via technical combustion processes. Although this greenhouse gas ensures pleasant temperatures on the earth, CO2 emissions are at present massively excessive.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a gas. It is non-toxic in smaller amounts, is odourless and is, like oxygen, part of our natural living world. Each molecule of CO2 contains one carbon atom (C) and two oxygen atoms (O), which explains its name CO2. Plants absorb CO2 and convert it into wood and other types of biomass with the aid of sunlight. We absorb it with the bubbles in mineral water and emit it when we breathe out. CO2 is produced in all combustion processes, such as when charcoal is burnt in a barbecue or fuel is consumed by a car or aircraft.
But how are we to imagine this CO2? Because it is a gas, we could use it to fill a balloon, for instance. We can also freeze it, so that it becomes a solid. You have probably seen “dry ice”, that mysteriously smoking white substance. Dry ice is frozen CO2. Unlike water or ordinary ice, it does not melt, but vaporises directly.
A kilogram of CO2 does not sound like very much. But if we let a kilogram block of dry ice vaporise, the resulting gas would fill a 500-litre balloon. A tonne of dry ice would produce a balloon with a volume of 500,000 litres. That’s a huge balloon with a diameter of 10 metres. The global atmosphere can absorb this amount per year and person.
CO2 is vital for life on earth. It is necessary for the life of plants and also plays a key role for the climate. CO2 is a greenhouse gas. It is called this because it retains the heat in the atmosphere and thus ensures that our earth enjoys pleasant average temperatures rather than enduring a cold climate that is hostile to life.
The problem is that worldwide emissions of CO2 are at present massively excessive. For example, each Swiss resident generates all of eleven tonnes of CO2 annually. That’s eleven of these huge balloons, ten tonnes too much.
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