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Carbon Dioxide And Its Effect On Earth

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Carbon Dioxide is a colorless, nonflammable gas, with no smell. It accounts for about .04% by volume of the air in the atmosphere and is naturally occurring. It can be found in the human body, oceans, atmosphere, and within the Earth’s mantle. This molecular compound is notated as CO2 and is made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. Carbon dioxide is also used for many different things. For example, carbon dioxide is use for your soft drink and soda products such as sprite, sierra mist and pepsi just to name a few. Another thing carbon dioxide is use for is food such as ice cream and frozen food the dry icy is an effect of carbon dioxide. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe. It makes up about twenty percent …show more content…

Experts agree that carbon first appeared on Earth in a reduced, abiotic form. Carbon is found in all meteorites, and historically, the prevailing view was that all atmospheric carbon found on Earth was in the form of carbon dioxide (Shaw). Recently, however, this viewpoint has been disproved for a number of reasons. The first is that geological evidence would be present if the atmosphere was full of carbon dioxide, which is lacking. The second reason is the delay in oxygenation of the atmosphere following the development of the first oxygen producing microbes. The third reason is the longstanding “balance between carbonate carbon and biogenic carbon at a ratio of about 4 to 1” (Shaw). This suggests that it was unlikely that the atmosphere was full of carbon in the form of carbon dioxide. It is believed that the early ocean held most of the carbon. The “primordial soup” theory suggests that the early ocean had “a high concentration of photochemically produced complex organic compounds” as well as oxidized sediments, which slowly released carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (Shaw). These factors are also the same factors that likely lead to the initial evolution of primitive life in the ocean. This explanation better fits the geological timeframe for the oxygenation and buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Shaw). A common theory for the presence of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is the

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