Question

How many covalent bonds are there in one molecule of carbon dioxide, co2?

Answer 1

Carbon tends to make 4 bonds while oxygen tends to form 2. Therefore in CO2, the carbon forms a double bond to each of the oxygen atoms.

Answer 2

The answer is 4. The 4 covalent bonds are basically 2 double bonds, where two pairs of electrons are shared. CO2 involves sp2 hybridization since each of the 4 valence electrons of the carbon are involved in the covalent bonds. Each oxygen, the other hand, has two lone pairs of the electrons, each (which form a pi bond).