Fast Facts: Carbon Dioxide

​​Here are eight interesting facts about carbon dioxide: 

1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is 50% more dense than air.
2. Volcanoes, hot springs and geysers are natural sources of carbon dioxide gas.
3. The current global average concentration of carbon dioxide is 404 parts per million by volume (or 614 parts per million by mass).
4. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) uses carbon dioxide as an inert atmosphere in packaging to prevent food spoilage for products such as cheese, poultry and red meat.
5. Supercritical carbon dioxide is used as a solvent for recovering heavy oil.
6. Carbon dioxide is used in fire extinguishers and in industrial fire protection systems.
7. Printed circuit boards manufacture uses small quantities of carbon dioxide as a cleaning fluid.
8. Solid carbon dioxide, known as dry ice, will not melt from a solid to a liquid but instead changes directly from a solid to a gas. This is called sublimation.