Is carbon dioxide (CO2) acidic on its own? (Without water)?

Question

Is carbon dioxide (CO2) acidic on its own? (Without water)

Answer 1

CO2 isn't a true Lewis acid, like BF3, because it can't accept electrons without rearranging to form a new species.

In nature, CO2 is not acidic until it combines with water (H2O) to form carbonic acid (H2CO3), a weak acid that can dissolve limestone and have a negative impact on your car! :)

SOx gases, on the other hand, form H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) when they combine with water, which is more troubling, since sulfuric acid is much stronger than carbonic acid.

Answer 2

Non metallic oxides is an acidic oxides, they give acids when they react with water, CO2 is an acidic oxide , but it is not acid , if there is humidity in the atmosphere it converts to carbonic acid , which is unstable acid and decomposed to CO2 and water.

Answer 3

Water is hazardous if you drink too much of it. You can literally kill yourself by water poisoning. By the same token, if the balance of oxygen and CO2 gets too far out of balance, yes, it is hazardous. I don't think it's too hard to see that... we expel more CO2 than we should in the way of burning fossil fuels. All the while, the rainforests and green areas of the planet are continually being cut down, thus eliminating the plants we need to scrub the CO2 in our atmosphere.

Answer 4

Yes, CO2 is a lewis acid, it accepts electrons

Answer 5

No CO2 is not acidic on its own.
We have a lot of CO2 in our atmosphere, none of us die because of it!
Also, plants breathe out CO2 all night, people sleeping under them will die if CO2 was poisonous!

Answer 6

Acidity is usually based on an interaction with water so this question isn't really relevant

Answer 7

no co2 is not acidic in nature

Answer 8

It's not acidic in the pH sense, but ag_iitkgp got it right.

Answer 9

only when it is combined with water and is forms sulfuric acid.

Answer 10

its an acid