Carbon dioxide is a gaseous compound which is harmful and can cause choking. It is the main component of greenhouse gases and is necessary for plants to photosynthesise. Carbon dioxide is made up of a carbon atom and two oxygen atoms, whereby the atoms share their valence electrons, thus they are joined by covalent bonds. A carbon atom has 4 valence electrons while an oxygen atom has 6, and in order to obtain a stable structure, the carbon atom has to share 4 electrons (2 each) with the oxygen atoms (duplet structure) while each of the oxygen atom has to share 2 electrons with the carbon atom (octet structure), and that is why 2 oxygen atoms and 1 carbon atom are used. After that, the carbon atom would have acquired the electronic configuration of 2 (helium atom), while the oxygen atoms would have acquired the electronic configuration of 2.8 (neon atom).
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