Some time ago we gave our readers information on the effect of oxygen and nitrogen on our lives and on other living things. Today we’ll consider carbon dioxide—what it is and what it does. The dictionary describes it this way: “a heavy, colorless, non-burning gas.”
Trees and plants need great quantities of carbon dioxide, which they get from the air moving around them. Humans and animals, however, can’t use it. We have to have oxygen every moment to stay alive. The Creator has designed a wonderful arrangement to maintain this balance. Every breath you inhale draws both oxygen and carbon dioxide into your lungs. The lungs give the blood its oxygen supply and also remove carbon dioxide from the blood. The carbon dioxide is discarded when you exhale.
But that’s only part of the story. By a process called photosynthesis, plants and trees use the carbon dioxide out of the air and release oxygen back into it. Thus vegetation, which uses the part humans and animals cannot use, releases the oxygen so necessary to humans and animals. Isn’t that an amazing design!
Of course, we need to be careful about going into unused caves, or hiding inside a big box, or entering a small space where there is no fresh air. Workmen that have to go into dangerous places are wise to wear special masks. And it used to be that miners without ventilating equipment would take caged canary birds into mines with them. These cute little birds would fall off their perches if too much carbon dioxide accumulated. When that happened, the miners grabbed the cages and didn’t waste any time getting outside with them, saving the lives of both the canaries and themselves.
But in spite of some dangers, carbon dioxide has some very good uses. It adds the fizz to soft drinks, and that’s where the name “carbonated soda” comes from. Another important use is in fighting fires with extinguishers loaded with this gas. Blown over a fire quickly enough, the vapor from the carbon dioxide keeps oxygen from reaching the fire and will put it out. And yet another use is found in bakeries, because yeast, which is used in making bread, produces carbon dioxide, which helps the bread to rise.
Surely when we think of this wonderful gas created by the Lord God, we should praise Him for His loving care over us, as the opening Bible verse tells us to. That love was most wonderfully expressed when the Lord Jesus gave Himself on the cross as a sacrifice to God for the sins of each one who comes to Him to be his or her Savior. Any who do this are assured of a happy home in heaven with Him when life on earth is over. Come to Him today, if you have not yet done so. He will warmly welcome you.