Global warming culprit: greenhouse gases.Factories, industrial processes, power plants, and vehicles spew waste gases like carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. ([CO.sub.2]), nitrous oxide nitrous oxide or nitrogen (I) oxide, chemical compound, N2O, a colorless gas with a sweetish taste and odor. Its density is 1.977 grams per liter at STP. It is soluble in water, alcohol, ether, and other solvents. ([NO.sub.2]), and halocarbons into the atmosphere (see pie chart A graphical representation of information in which each unit of data is represented as a pie-shaped piece of a circle. See business graphics. and table). These gases trap infrared radiation (IR), the heat you feel when you toast your hands over a radiator. That heat is then reradiated throughout Earth's atmosphere “Air” redirects here. For other uses, see Air (disambiguation). Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earth's gravity. It contains roughly (by molar content/volume) 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0. . Result: Earth's surface Noun 1. Earth's surface - the outermost level of the land or sea; "earthquakes originate far below the surface"; "three quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water" surface is bombarded daily with twice as much energy from reradiated IR as from incoming sunlight. That means even more heat.
Carbon Dioxide 60%
Halocarbons 20%
Methane 15%
[N.sub.2]O 5%
Greenhouse Gases and Their Sources
Greenhouse Sources Life Span in
Gas Atmosphere
Carbon Fossil fuels, 500 years
dioxide deforestation,
([CO.sub.2]) soil destruction
Methane Cattle, rice paddies, 7-10 years
([CH.sub.4]) mining, gas leaks,
termites
Nitrous Fossil fuels, 140-190 years
oxide ([N.sub.2]O) soil cultivation,
deforestation
Halocarbons Refrigeration, 65-110 years
air conditioning,
aerosols, solvents
Ozone and Photochemical Hours to days
other trace processes, cars, power in upper
gases plants, solvents troposphere
Source: Adapted from The Greenhouse Trap by Francesca Lyman (Beacon Press This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. , 1990). The primary goal of the Kyoto conference was to set worldwide standards for greenhouse-gas emissions. Policy makers targeted the world's biggest polluter--the U.S.--to cut emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012 Other industrial nations must meet similar standards. But developing countries, such as China and India, don't have to make any cuts unless they choose to. Many scientists think it: would take at least a 60 percent reduction in emissions world-wide to make a real dent in the build-up build·up also build-up n. 1. The act or process of amassing or increasing: a military buildup; a buildup of tension during the strike. 2. of green-house gases in the atmosphere. |
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