# data[].attributes.headline
Click to read, watch, interact and LEARN

# data[].attributes.subject
Click to read, watch, interact and LEARN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is carbon?

Take a deep breath in. And breathe out. You just exhaled carbon dioxide!

All living things on Earth contain carbon. Even you contain carbon. Lots of it! Like every other living thing on this planet, we are a part of Earth's carbon cycle. Plants take in CO ₂. They keep the carbon and give away the oxygen. Animals breathe in the oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Carbon, including carbon dioxide, has cycled into and out of the air for a long time. This cycling of carbon has stayed balanced over long periods of time.

What is carbon dioxide?

Carbon dioxide is an important gas for life on the planet. (Remember our deep breath in and out?) It is crucial to maintaining the protective blanket that is Earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is often called "C-O-2" (pronounced see-oh-two) and written as "CO ₂" because "C" stands for carbon and "O" stands for oxygen. Carbon dioxide is one of the primary greenhouse gases on Earth.

Greenhouse gases trap heat from the Sun. Without greenhouse gases, that heat would escape Earth's atmosphere and go back into space. Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, are changing the balance between how much carbon is in the air and how much carbon is stored in plants and the ocean. These activities cause the amount of CO ₂ in the air to rise. Big increases in CO ₂ in our atmosphere can negatively affect Earth's climate.

So is carbon dioxide bad?

Here's the big, important thing about CO ₂: It's a greenhouse gas. That means CO ₂ in the atmosphere traps heat close to Earth. It helps our planet hold onto some of the heat it gets from the Sun so the energy doesn't all escape back into space.

If it weren't for this greenhouse effect, Earth's ocean would be frozen solid. If not for the greenhouse effect, Earth would be an ice ball! Earth would not be the beautiful blue and green planet of life that it is.

So, CO ₂ and other greenhouse gases are good - but only up to a point. CO ₂ is so good at holding in heat from the Sun that even a small increase in CO ₂ in the atmosphere can make Earth even warmer.

Throughout Earth's history, whenever the amount of CO ₂ in the atmosphere has gone up, the temperature of Earth has also gone up. And when the temperature rises, CO ₂ levels in the atmosphere increase even more, mostly because of the role the ocean plays in the carbon cycle. As ocean temperatures increase, oceans release stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - like a glass of soda losing its bubbles on a warm day.

How is NASA learning about carbon dioxide?

How is our planet handling this change to one of the key elements of life on Earth? To answer that, we need to keep a close eye on carbon. We need to know how and where it is entering and leaving the atmosphere and how it is interacting with weather and climate.

NASA's research satellites are studying how carbon moves around the planet.

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2, or OCO-2, launched in 2014 to measure CO ₂ to better observe Earth's carbon cycle. OCO-2 investigates important questions about carbon dioxide on Earth all the way from space! NASA's OCO-2 also helps explore how measurements from space can predict future CO ₂ increases and its impact on Earth's climate.

Using technology like OCO-2, we can measure and map carbon dioxide from space to help us understand the interaction between carbon and climate.

Check out the Climate Time Machine to see how CO₂ and temperature have changed together throughout history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are returning carbon to the air much faster than nature took it out!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is nuclear energy a clean energy source?

# data[].attributes.body
Any form of precipitation that has a pH less than 5.6

# data[].attributes.headline
Fossil fuels can be made into oil, gasoline, and petroleum products. Burning these fuels release co2 which is harmful to our air. Oils also harm our oceans leaks from oil rigs and shipping problems where oil is spilled can get worse and worse over time.

# data[].attributes.subject
Fossil fuels can be made into oil, gasoline, and petroleum products. Burning these fuels release co2 which is harmful to our air. Oils also harm our oceans leaks from oil rigs and shipping problems where oil is spilled can get worse and worse over time.

# data[].attributes.body
Colton Strauss

# data[].attributes.body
Plants, animals, anything living, and buildings.

-zoryah

# data[].attributes.body
They did an experiment with water and vinegar, and after the experiment the water did no harm and looked the same, whereas the vinegar seemed like it rusted and impacted everything in the jar, and the leaf turned brown.

# data[].attributes.headline
acid rain can dissolve things quicker than regular rain, which is bad.

# data[].attributes.subject
acid rain can dissolve things quicker than regular rain, which is bad.

# data[].attributes.body
Results from a process of chemical reactions involving polution and water molucles in the air

# data[].attributes.body
The rain is a chemical reaction that is pollutants it has a low PH that is less than 5.6. . It can turn into a decaying leaf fast it can erode rocks fast .