File:Carbon Dioxide Molecule VdW.png

From Global Warming Art

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Description

See also: Carbon Dioxide Gallery

The structural formula for carbon dioxide

History of rising carbon dioxide concentrations as measured as Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

This is a space filling model showing the chemical structure of carbon dioxide. The size of each atom is determined by its Van der Waals radius and the relative positions faithfully reproduce the structure of the molecule. Colors follow traditional conventions used in popular molecular visualization software (e.g. Jmol).

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas making up 0.038% of the Earth's atmosphere. It has been abundantly created by the burning of fossil fuels. Combined with its long residence time in the atmosphere, this has made carbon dioxide the leading cause of man-made global warming.

The symmetrical structure of carbon dioxide, and lack of a dipole moment, actually make it a relatively weak greenhouse gas on a per molecule basis. By contrast, the strongest greenhouse gas known has a per molecule global warming potential at 100 years of 22,000 times that of carbon dioxide.