What exactly are greenhouse gasses?

Question

Once again me and my friends are doing a project and need help. Thanks!

Answer 1

GAsses that reflect low frequency infrared but don't reflect high frequency.

So high frequency IR reaches the Earth, warms it up and produces low frequency which gets reflected back - warming the Earth more. Glass has this effect - hence why greenhouses are warmer than you might expect. Hence the name greenhouse gasses

Answer 2

Greenhouse gases are components of the atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Some greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, while others result from human activities. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.

Answer 3

Carbon dioxide, Nitrous oxide, Flourocarbons/ Chlorofluorocarbons, Methane are green house gases.

Green house gases are gases which contribute to the greenhouse effect....some of them occur naturally, but the levels of the gases may rise due to human activities....such as using fossil fuels etc

Check the link below.....I did this years ago and the ole memory is faulty!

Almost forgot.......Good luck on the project!

Answer 4

it is the smell of good buds from your green house

Answer 5

Greenhouse gases are gases such as CO2 and methane that go into the earth's atmosphere. These heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere behave like the glass of a greenhouse. They let much of the Sun’s rays in, but keep most of that heat from directly escaping. Because of this, they are called greenhouse gases.

More Information:

Greenhouse Effect, the capacity of certain gases in the atmosphere to trap heat emitted from the Earth’s surface, thereby insulating and warming the Earth. Without the thermal blanketing of the natural greenhouse effect, the Earth’s climate would be about 33 Celsius degrees (about 59 Fahrenheit degrees) cooler—too cold for most living organisms to survive.

The greenhouse effect has warmed the Earth for over 4 billion years. Now scientists are growing increasingly concerned that human activities may be modifying this natural process, with potentially dangerous consequences. Since the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s, humans have devised many inventions that burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Burning these fossil fuels, as well as other activities such as clearing land for agriculture or urban settlements, releases some of the same gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These atmospheric gases have risen to levels higher than at any time in the last 420,000 years. As these gases build up in the atmosphere, they trap more heat near the Earth’s surface, causing Earth’s climate to become warmer than it would naturally.

Scientists call this unnatural heating effect global warming and blame it for an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature of about 0.6 Celsius degrees (about 1 Fahrenheit degree) over the last nearly 100 years. Without remedial measures, many scientists fear that global temperatures will rise 1.4 to 5.8 Celsius degrees (2.5 to 10.4 Fahrenheit degrees) by 2100. These warmer temperatures could melt parts of polar ice caps and most mountain glaciers, causing a rise in sea level of up to 1 m (40 in) within a century or two, which would flood coastal regions. Global warming could also affect weather patterns causing, among other problems, prolonged drought or increased flooding in some of the world’s leading agricultural regions.

The greenhouse effect results from the interaction between sunlight and the layer of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere that extends up to 100 km (60 mi) above Earth's surface. Sunlight is composed of a range of radiant energies known as the solar spectrum, which includes visible light, infrared light, gamma rays, X rays, and ultraviolet light. When the Sun’s radiation reaches the Earth’s atmosphere, some 25 percent of the energy is reflected back into space by clouds and other atmospheric particles. About 20 percent is absorbed in the atmosphere. For instance, gas molecules in the uppermost layers of the atmosphere absorb the Sun’s gamma rays and X rays. The Sun’s ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the ozone layer, located 19 to 48 km (12 to 30 mi) above the Earth’s surface.

About 50 percent of the Sun’s energy, largely in the form of visible light, passes through the atmosphere to reach the Earth’s surface. Soils, plants, and oceans on the Earth’s surface absorb about 85 percent of this heat energy, while the rest is reflected back into the atmosphere—most effectively by reflective surfaces such as snow, ice, and sandy deserts. In addition, some of the Sun’s radiation that is absorbed by the Earth’s surface becomes heat energy in the form of long-wave infrared radiation, and this energy is released back into the atmosphere.

Certain gases in the atmosphere, including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, absorb this infrared radiant heat, temporarily preventing it from dispersing into space. As these atmospheric gases warm, they in turn emit infrared radiation in all directions. Some of this heat returns back to Earth to further warm the surface in what is known as the greenhouse effect, and some of this heat is eventually released to space. This heat transfer creates equilibrium between the total amount of heat that reaches the Earth from the Sun and the amount of heat that the Earth radiates out into space. This equilibrium or energy balance—the exchange of energy between the Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and space—is important to maintain a climate that can support a wide variety of life.
Earth’s atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen (78 percent) and oxygen (21 percent). These two most common atmospheric gases have chemical structures that restrict absorption of infrared energy. Only the few greenhouse gases, which make up less than 1 percent of the atmosphere, offer the Earth any insulation. Greenhouse gases occur naturally or are manufactured. The most abundant naturally occurring greenhouse gas is water vapor, followed by carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Human-made chemicals that act as greenhouse gases include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

Since the 1700s, human activities have substantially increased the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Scientists are concerned that expected increases in the concentrations of greenhouse gases will powerfully enhance the atmosphere’s capacity to retain infrared radiation, leading to an artificial warming of the Earth’s surface.

Water vapor is the most common greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, accounting for about 60 to 70 percent of the natural greenhouse effect. Humans do not have a significant direct impact on water vapor levels in the atmosphere. However, as human activities increase the concentration of other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (producing warmer temperatures on Earth), the evaporation of oceans, lakes, and rivers, as well as water evaporation from plants, increase and raise the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide constantly circulates in the environment through a variety of natural processes known as the carbon cycle. Volcanic eruptions and the decay of plant and animal matter both release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In respiration, animals break down food to release the energy required to build and maintain cellular activity. A byproduct of respiration is the formation of carbon dioxide, which is exhaled from animals into the environment. Oceans, lakes, and rivers absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Through photosynthesis, plants collect carbon dioxide and use it to make their own food, in the process incorporating carbon into new plant tissue and releasing oxygen to the environment as a byproduct.

In order to provide energy to heat buildings, power automobiles, and fuel electricity-producing power plants, humans burn objects that contain carbon, such as the fossil fuels oil, coal, and natural gas; wood or wood products; and some solid wastes. When these products are burned, they release carbon dioxide into the air. In addition, humans cut down huge tracts of trees for lumber or to clear land for farming or building. This process, known as deforestation, can both release the carbon stored in trees and significantly reduce the number of trees available to absorb carbon dioxide.

As a result of these human activities, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is accumulating faster than the Earth’s natural processes can absorb the gas. By analyzing air bubbles trapped in glacier ice that is many centuries old, scientists have determined that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen by 31 percent since 1750. And since carbon dioxide increases can remain in the atmosphere for centuries, scientists expect these concentrations to double or triple in the next century if current trends continue.

Many natural processes produce methane, also known as natural gas. Decomposition of carbon-containing substances found in oxygen-free environments, such as wastes in landfills, release methane. Ruminating animals such as cattle and sheep belch methane into the air as a byproduct of digestion. Microorganisms that live in damp soils, such as rice fields, produce methane when they break down organic matter. Methane is also emitted during coal mining and the production and transport of other fossil fuels.

Methane has more than doubled in the atmosphere since 1750, and could double again in the next century. Atmospheric concentrations of methane are far less than carbon dioxide, and methane only stays in the atmosphere for a decade or so. But scientists consider methane an extremely effective heat-trapping gas—one molecule of methane is 20 times more efficient at trapping infrared radiation radiated from the Earth’s surface than a molecule of carbon dioxide.

Many natural processes produce methane, also known as natural gas. Decomposition of carbon-containing substances found in oxygen-free environments, such as wastes in landfills, release methane. Ruminating animals such as cattle and sheep belch methane into the air as a byproduct of digestion. Microorganisms that live in damp soils, such as rice fields, produce methane when they break down organic matter. Methane is also emitted during coal mining and the production and transport of other fossil fuels.

Methane has more than doubled in the atmosphere since 1750, and could double again in the next century. Atmospheric concentrations of methane are far less than carbon dioxide, and methane only stays in the atmosphere for a decade or so. But scientists consider methane an extremely effective heat-trapping gas—one molecule of methane is 20 times more efficient at trapping infrared radiation radiated from the Earth’s surface than a molecule of carbon dioxide.

Some of the most potent greenhouse gases emitted are produced solely by human activities. Fluorinated compounds, including CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs, are used in a variety of manufacturing processes. For each of these synthetic compounds, one molecule is several thousand times more effective in trapping heat than a single molecule of carbon dioxide.

CFCs, first synthesized in 1928, were widely used in the manufacture of aerosol sprays, blowing agents for foams and packing materials, as solvents, and as refrigerants. Nontoxic and safe to use in most applications, CFCs are harmless in the lower atmosphere. However, in the upper atmosphere, ultraviolet radiation breaks down CFCs, releasing chlorine into the atmosphere. In the mid-1970s, scientists began observing that higher concentrations of chlorine were destroying the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. Ozone protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation, which can cause cancer and other damage to plants and animals. Beginning in 1987 with the Montréal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, representatives from 47 countries established control measures that limited the consumption of CFCs. By 1992 the Montréal Protocol was amended to completely ban the manufacture and use of CFCs worldwide, except in certain developing countries and for use in special medical processes such as asthma inhalers.

Scientists devised substitutes for CFCs, developing HCFCs and HFCs. Since HCFCs still release ozone-destroying chlorine in the atmosphere, production of this chemical will be phased out by the year 2030, providing scientists some time to develop a new generation of safer, effective chemicals. HFCs, which do not contain chlorine and only remain in the atmosphere for a short time, are now considered the most effective and safest substitute for CFCs.

Experts are concerned about other industrial chemicals that may have heat-trapping abilities. In 2000 scientists observed rising concentrations of a previously unreported compound called trifluoromethyl sulphur pentafluoride. Although present in extremely low concentrations in the environment, the gas still poses a significant threat because it traps heat more effectively than all other known greenhouse gases. The exact sources of the gas, undisputedly produced from industrial processes, still remain uncertain.

Aerosols, also known as particulates, are airborne particles that absorb, scatter, and reflect radiation back into space. Clouds, windblown dust, and particles that can be traced to erupting volcanoes are examples of natural aerosols. Human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and slash-and-burn farming techniques used to clear forestland, contribute additional aerosols to the atmosphere. Although aerosols are not considered a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, they do affect the transfer of heat energy radiated from the Earth to space. The effect of aerosols on climate change is still debated, but scientists believe that light-colored aerosols cool the Earth’s surface, while dark aerosols like soot actually warm the atmosphere. The increase in global temperature in the last century is lower than many scientists predicted when only taking into account increasing levels of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated compounds. Some scientists believe that aerosol cooling may be the cause of this unexpectedly reduced warming.

However, scientists do not expect that aerosols will ever play a significant role in offsetting global warming. As pollutants, aerosols typically pose a health threat, and the manufacturing or agricultural processes that produce them are subject to air-pollution control efforts. As a result, scientists do not expect aerosols to increase as fast as other greenhouse gases in the 21st century.

VI. EFFORTS TO CONTROL GREENHOUSE GASES

Due to overwhelming scientific evidence and growing political interest, global warming is currently recognized as an important national and international issue. Since 1992 representatives from over 160 countries have met regularly to discuss how to reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.