Best greenhouse gas insulator?

Question

Who here can tell me which gas that is found in abundance on the planet is the best insulator of the earth's heat? In other words, which gas is the biggest greenhouse effect contributor?

Answer 1

Very good question. I will have to look that up.

As I recall it is methane. but I will have to check that for you.

Answer 2

The biggest contributor to the greenhouse effect is water vapour. As greenhouse gases go it's very ineffective but there's far more if it than all the other greenhouse gases put together.

However, water vapour is unique in that it exists wholly within a natural cycle and when there's too much of it in the atmosphere it falls to earth as rain. All the other greenhouse gases just accumulate in the atmosphere so in time the role that water vapour plays in global warming is getting less and less.

The greenhouse gas that has the highest insulative properties and is the best insulator is one of the HCFC's (hydrochloroflourocarbons), can't recall offhand which one, might be HCFC-12. It's 630,000 times more effective than water vapour at retaining heat but it's use has been banned for several years and it only exisits in minute amounts in the atmosphere.

Answer 3

Water vapor.


And let's not make qualifying statements like, "but the atmospheric concentration of water vapor totally depends on the global temperature. " This is a telling statement by a person who presupposes that global warming is a man-made phenomenon (ie - implying that man has caused the temperature increase and thus causes the water vapor increase.) The statement is also totally bogus; if the concentration of water vapor totally depends on global temperature, then there would never be a need to report humidity - the value would always be the same for a given temperature.

And there are several mechanisms for water vapor to enter the atmosphere that are not TOTALLY dependent on temperature, including significant man-made sources. Land plants primary means of moving fluids (the "heart" of a plant's circulatory system) is through a process called transpiration. The plant allows water to evaporate from it's leaves, drawing up water and nutrients from the roots. Plants have a limited control over the water loss, but the process is taking place throughout the day or night, hot or cold as long as the plant is not dormant. If anyone acknowledges that photosynthesis is an important regulator of global carbon dioxide, then they have to acknowledge the transpiration loss by plants - the cost of land plants doing business.

As a man-made source of water-vapor that is NOT temp-dependent, the products of carbon-based fuel combustion cannot be overlooked. If man-made CO2 is significant, then so is water vapor because volume for volume, molecule for molecule as much or more water vapor is produced. Surely, the amount of water vapor put into the atmosphere by man is insignificant compared to the total amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, just as the amount of anthropogenic CO2 is insignificant relative to the total amount of water vapor.

Finally, it's somewhat misleading that someone would claim that water is "ineffective" as a GHG. It has a greater ability to absorb and re-radiate IR then CO2 - so that would make CO2 doubly ineffective since the volume of water vapor dwarfs that of CO2. Or that water is "unique" in it's natural cycle existence. CO2 does not just "accumulate" - it returns to the Earth's surface via absorption into bodies of water, rain and photosynthesis - all natural processes last time I checked.

Answer 4

That depends on what you mean by biggest. Water vapor is the biggest factor, accounting for between 36% and 90% of the greenhouse effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#The_role_of_water_vapor

But the atmospheric concentration of water vapor totally depends on the global temperature. The hotter the air, the more water vapor it can hold.

Sulfur hexafluoride has the greatest global warming potential, but there's not very much of it in the atmosphere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_potential
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/gwp.html

Answer 5

In the bible it said winter be winter summer be summer spring be spring and fall be fall to earth end so i don't believe in global warming. Now if u do i tell u something help walk a lot turn out all the light u using better be in a small house
go store once a week or a month no pizza if they bring them
u less hot water wash in cold water short bath stop waching tv so much and off the computer

Answer 6

It doesn't matter, you aren't going to solve the greenhouse effect problem trying to remove the most insulating gas first.

Our technology is fossil fuel based ... we would create more greenhouse gasses trying to remove the greenhouse gasses.

Answer 7

here are some good links to read on this subject:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/kyoto/ewe.html

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-5797999_ITM

or here find one yourself:

http://www.ask.com/web?q=which+gas+is+the+biggest+greenhouse+effect+contributor%3F+&search=&qsrc=0&o=333&l=dir