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According to the rules of nomenclature for molecular compounds, "carbon" means 1 carbon (the absence of a prefix in the first element of a molecular compound means there's just one) and "dioxide" means 2 (the prefix di- means 2.) If, by chance, the second element of a molecular compounds has 1, then you do use the prefix mono-, for example, carbon monoxide. However, a molecular compound never starts with mono-. If there's just one, you omit the prefix on the first of the two elements.

So, carbon dioxide means 1 carbon, 2 oxygens, so CO2.

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12y ago

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