Does CO2 dissolve in water? O2?

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<p>Does CO2 dissolve in water? I didn't think so since CO2 is technically nonpolar and water is polar, but I've come across a few questions in Barron's that says it does dissolve.</p>

<p>Also, what about O2? O2 is definitely nonpolar..so I would expect water to not dissolve it. But I looked on the internet, and found on a discussion board an explanation--can anybody confirm its validity/explain it because it is so complicated? <a href="http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061117082852AAT1xOO%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061117082852AAT1xOO&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>One more thing: what is the difference between dissocation & ionization & dissolving? And is dissolving (or dissociation or ionization) considered a chemical reaction since bonds are broken?</p>

<p>Thank youuuuu! Good luck to everyone getting scores in a few hours!!!! AHH!</p>

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<p>CO2 dissolves. Everything desolves to a certain degree (even a small one), EVERYTHING. What happens is the polarization of molecules - electrons repel electrons and the 2 molecules are able to binds for a very brief period of time.
In this case the CO2 is not dissociates (dissociation means coming apart) here only the electrons play a role - and therefore it is not a chemical reaction. Something can be dissolved by dissociation or by other means (like CO2 dissolving) it is not the cause, its the effect (more random distribution of molecules) that is called the disolving process.</p>