Introduction:
| Carbon
dioxide is the gas that animals (including
humans) exhale. It is a food for plants and
without it no plant can grow. Carbon dioxide is
also produced while burning wood, gas or other
fossil based fuels. Small amounts of carbon
dioxide in the air are harmless. However,
recently changes in weather patterns, known as
global warming, have raised concerns. There is a
strong belief that due
to increased level of carbon dioxide, the
trapped heat cannot pass through the atmosphere
into space. This causes a rise in the ambient
temperature on Earth known as the greenhouse
effect. |
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Some scientists
fear that the rise in temperature will disrupt weather
patterns, causing the polar icecaps to melt and release
more water into the ocean. This increase in water level
might cause two things to happen (1) the ocean's saline
concentration would weaken, threatening marine species,
and (2) coastal areas would flood.
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