What is it about CO2 that makes it a greenhouse gas?

CO2 is not transparent to infra-red.

Mostly, the Sun doesn't heat the atmosphere. Visible light passes through the atmosphere, which is transparent to visible light, and strikes the ground, where it is absorbed. It is then radiated back in the form of infra-red. CO2 is not transparent to infra-red, so the heat generated is caught in the atmosphere.

To a certain extent, this is a good thing. It's cold out there. On the dark side of the Moon, the temperature can drop to -250ºF, while on the dark side of the Earth, it rarely falls below -40ºF, and that's at the poles.

But if the CO2 gets too thick, if the atmosphere contains too much, too much heat will be held, and the atmosphere will begin to heat up.

I want resolve something that I have read in this topic...

For one... the sun heats the surface and the surface heats the atmosphere. This is why the hottest part of the day is around 3 p.m. Wherein the sun provides the most direct sunlight at 12 noon. There is a lag in which the surface heats the atmosphere above it.

Two... CO2 does not destroy Ozone. Ozone is a highly reactive compound. Ozone is destroyed by putting compounds into the atmosphere that Ozone wants to react with.

three... CO2 is a greenhouse gas.... meaning that it acts as an insulator. The more C02 in the atmosphere the more insulation that you have. This is why people talk about humans causing global warming because we are creating more CO2... But C02 is still a minor gas in the atmosphere. (which is 73% Nitrogen, 21% oxygen, ~3%Argon, and the rest is made up of trace gasses like C02 and water vapor). But studies have found that C02 quantities have elevated over the past 30 years or so by about 3-5%( cant remember off the top of my head if this percentage is accurate the article is at home.)

Well to keep the explaination simple think of Co2 as a blanket that can keep warmth in. If you have ever rolled yourself into a blankey burrito to keep warm you also know after a certain amount of time you go from being too cold to just right to warm and finally too hot and you have to let some of the heat escape by openning the blanket unfortunately we can not open the atmosphere to let out the extra CO2 in our atmosphere which is why we are experiencing Global Warming CO 2 is a gas that hold heat in.

plants take in co2 and give off 02....as well as a number ofchemical activities from roothair to bud thatutilize silicon and produce animal food..and seeds for regeneration they are the first breathers....see vegetable

animals are..co2 producers and o2 users......they need plants/plants need them......a higher animal...man built a green house to...grow plants....by paralling what he learned about the plant world...and the sunlight world....he uses artificial light and either duplicates or tries to immitate an ideal environment....it's easier to grow plants shelterd from the wind......co2 has been around for years b4 greenhouses...humans designate and nomenclate things...so others can try to get a meaning....sometimes these meanings don't convey everything....co2 is prevelent in greenhouses....it's also a gas in flatulance

I was going to scan in a figure from one of my meteorology textbooks...then I got lucky on wikipedia.

The link below has what you're looking for. Check out the graph and read the "causes" section. Note the graph's vertical axis shows % transmittance. Less transmittance means absorption by the substance in question.

It amazes me that CO2 absorbs as much infrared as it apparently does...H2O has a huge absorption band closer to the peak wavelength emitted by the earth.

It is the same as any chemical compound. It is the combination, not the individual elements that make it encompass the earth so the sun's rays cannot escape.

ummmm the carbon part of it u genius

LISTEN

the carbon destroys the ozone layer and it lets more radiation from the sun come through which warms the planet up

read the source