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The Earth's early atmosphere was mainly carbon dioxide which is thought to have come from volcanoes.

Chemistry - Carbon Dioxide (AQA)

Carbon dioxide is a key gas in chemistry. This quiz explores its properties, tests for it, and why it matters for respiration, combustion and climate change.

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Fascinating Fact:

Carbon dioxide is a colourless gas that is more dense than air and does not support combustion.

In GCSE Chemistry, you study how carbon dioxide is made in reactions, how to test for it using limewater, and how it behaves as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Key Terms

Carbon dioxide: A colourless gas made from carbon and oxygen, produced by respiration and complete combustion.
Combustion: A chemical reaction in which a fuel burns in oxygen, releasing energy as heat and light.
Limewater: A clear solution of calcium hydroxide that turns milky when carbon dioxide is bubbled through it.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How do you test for carbon dioxide in GCSE Chemistry?

You test for carbon dioxide by bubbling the gas through limewater. If carbon dioxide is present, the limewater turns milky because a white precipitate of calcium carbonate forms.

Why is carbon dioxide called a greenhouse gas?

Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas because it absorbs and re-emits infrared radiation, trapping heat in the atmosphere and helping to warm the Earth’s surface.

How is carbon dioxide produced in everyday life?

Carbon dioxide is produced when fuels such as gas, petrol or coal burn, when living organisms respire, and in some industrial processes like making cement and steel.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Liquid carbon dioxide does not conduct electricity. What might this tell us about it?

It is a gas

It is colourless

It is a covalently compound substance

It is an ionically compound substance

Covalently bonded compounds do not conduct electricity

2 .

Which of the following diagrams best represents a molecule of carbon dioxide?

C=O=O

C-O-O

O-C-O

O=C=O

The carbon atom is joined to two oxygen atoms by double covalent bonds

3 .

What do the lines represent on covalent bonding diagrams, such as in question 2?

Electrons belonging to the oxygen atoms

Electrons belonging to the carbon atom

Pairs of electrons shared by both the carbon and the oxygen

Electrons transferred from the carbon to the oxygen

In covalent bonding, pairs of electrons are shared

4 .

Which one of the following reactions would produce carbon dioxide?

Hydrochloric acid and copper carbonate

Carbonic acid and zinc oxide

Water and lithium carbonate

Sodium hydroxide and calcium carbonate

A key reaction that you are expected to know is that strong acids will react with metal carbonates to produce water, a salt and carbon dioxide

5 .

Choose the correct words in the correct order that would fill the gaps:

There is a natural and balanced ___________ of carbon dioxide between the __________ and the biosphere. Plants remove it by the process of __________. Animals (and plants during the night) return carbon dioxide to the air by the process of __________.

exchange, atmosphere, respiration, photosynthesis

exchange, atmosphere, photosynthesis, respiration

atmosphere, photosynthesis, exchange , respiration

plants, animals, carbon, dioxide

This is part of the carbon cycle

6 .

Which of the following human activities increase the natural concentration of carbon dioxide in the air?

Driving petrol and diesel powered vehicles

Making cement

Manufacture of iron and steel

All of the above

There are other activities too. Exams will test you to find out if you realise that any activity that involves burning a fossil fuel or heating limestone will put extra carbon dioxide into the air

7 .

Which of the following environmental issues is strongly linked to higher than normal levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

The hole in the ozone layer

Global warming

Pollution

All of the above

The hole in the ozone layer is linked to chloro fluoro carbons (CFC's) and pollution covers a lot more than just the carbon dioxide issue

8 .

What is the test for carbon dioxide and what result would you get?

Litmus paper - blue

Lighted splint - squeaky pop

moist pH paper - orange

Limewater - cloudy

Whilst moist pH paper would show an orange colour if it was in contact with carbon dioxide dissolved in water, many other things would cause the same result

9 .

What is the compound produced in the test for carbon dioxide?

Calcium carbonate

Calcium hydroxide

Calcium chloride

Calcium sulfate

Limewater is a solution of calcium hydroxide, which is a base. Carbon dioxide is a weak acid and reacts with it to produce the calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is insoluble in an alkaline solution and water and so is precipitated, giving the cloudiness

10 .

It is thought that the Earth's early atmosphere was mainly carbon dioxide. But where do most scientists believe it came from and which other gases are thought to have been present in small quantities?

It came from comets and oxygen and nitrogen were also present

It came from asteroids and ammonia and methane were also present

It came from the Sun and oxygen and methane were also present

It came from volcanoes and ammonia and methane were also present

Oxygen only appeared when organisms like blue-green algae had evolved, as they were the first organisms that used photosynthesis

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Polluting the atmosphere - AQA

Author: Kev Woodward (PGCE, Science & Chemistry Teacher, Quiz Writer)