Carbon Dioxide Ashmeet Saini

Carbon Dioxide

As Elon Musk would put it, “We're running the most dangerous experiment in history

right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can handle before there is an

environmental catastrophe.” Carbon dioxide has arguably been the most debated chemical in not

only modern day science, but modern day politics as well. This jutting of the chemical has

indeed shed some serious light on the chemical, but many still remain ignorant of what the

chemical is, and its effects, and for that reason, we’ll take a look at some background

information about carbon dioxide, and the effects it’s had not only on the environment, but on

our personal health as well.

First, we have to take a look at what carbon dioxide actually is, and how it was

discovered. Carbon dioxide is a chemical that is made up of two oxygen atoms, and one carbon

atom, and is most often found in a gaseous state, but can sometimes be found in a liquid state as

well (The Gale Group, 2003). In fact, carbon dioxide was the first “gas” to be separated from

“air”, by scientist Jan van Helmont, who called the vapor that came from burning logs, “gas

sylvestre”(The Gale Group, 2003). Helmont’s theory of carbon dioxide was later further by

scientist Joseph Black in 1765, who determined that carbon dioxide was exhaled by people, was

heavier than actual air, and exhibited properties of a weak acid(The Gale Group, 2003). The

discoveries of these two pioneering scientists led to the finding of many other gases, as well as

solids(The Gale Group, 2003). Moreover, the discoveries of Joseph Black influenced French

physicist Pierre Laplace’s theories and experiments regarding carbon dioxide, namely his

experiments with guinea pigs(The Gale Group, 2003). He used these guinea pigs to prove that

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oxygen was inhaled from the environment, and was used to burn up the carbon stored in the

body, thus creating CO2 when we would breath(The Gale Group, 2003).

Now that we’ve taken a look at what carbon dioxide is, we can examine its effects on the

not only the environment, but our personal health as well. While many people still believe global

warming is a hoax put on by china, studies done by NASA in 2016, and many other

environmental agencies find that global warming is in fact real, and can be largely attributed to

carbon dioxide. These studies, such as the one done by the NASA in 2016, examined carbon

dioxide levels in the atmosphere ranging from 400,000 years ago, all the way to modern day.

What was surprising to them was the fact that carbon dioxide levels, as well as global warming

levels, were for the most part, consistent, but around the mid 18th century, when industrialization

was rapidly taking place, carbon dioxide levels, as well as global warming sharply spiked.

Scientists would blame this spike on the fact that during the industrial revolution, coal was the

main source of fuel, due to its high energy capacity, and when it would be burnt, it would give

off CO2 emissions, which hurt the atmosphere, and still continues to do so today. Consequently,

this impact on our atmosphere also spilt over to our personal health. According to Louis

Bergeron, a writer from Stanford News, quoting the research of Mark Jacobson, a professor of

civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, in 2008, states that increasing carbon dioxide

levels may be contributing to increased deaths, and disease in the United States. The study goes

on to find that by every 1 degree celsius in temperature increase, roughly 1000 people are killed,

and respiratory disease is increased qualitatively.

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Carbon dioxide is an element that seems common enough, and you would expect everybody to

know what it is, and its effects, but that is hardly the case. Today we examined what carbon

dioxide really is, and its effects on the environment, as well as our personal health. And once

again, it is because I agree with Elon Musk, that carbon dioxide levels are reaching an apex, I

believe carbon dioxide is one of, if not the most important chemicals known to mankind.

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Reference Page

The Gale Group, Inc. (2003). Carbon Dioxide. Retrieved March 28, 2018, from

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/chemistry/compounds-and-

elements/carbon-dioxide

Graphic: The relentless rise of carbon dioxide. (2016, November 08). Retrieved March 28, 2018,

from https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/

Bergeron, L. (2008, January 03). Study links carbon dioxide emissions to increased deaths.

Retrieved March 28, 2018, from https://news.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/co-010908.html

*note: you have to be in print layout for the document to show the footers/headers. The button

should be in the bottom right corner of word (the 2016 version)