global warming acid rain etc?

Question

im confused about glboal warming and stuff

like carbon monoxide

acid rain

global warming

greenhouse effect

what causes it and what stuff

please explain this for my GCSE geography and Chemistry thank you

Answer 1

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, tasteless, colorless gas. When it is burned in internal-combustion engines, it produces carbon dioxide (CO2). However, in many vehicles, this combustion is not complete; therefore CO accumulates in the air. Carbon monoxide is an extremely toxic pollutant. It contributes to smog and poor air quality. Most CO is emitted through volcanic activity, industrial pollution, and automobiles.

The term acid rain also known as acid precipitation is commonly used to mean the deposition of acidic components in rain, snow, dew, or dry particles. Acid rain occurs when sulfur dioxide (SO2 & SOX) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) are emitted into the atmosphere, undergo chemical transformations and are absorbed by water droplets in clouds. The droplets then fall to earth as rain, snow, mist, dry dust, hail, or sleet. This increases the acidity of the soil, and affects the chemical balance of lakes and streams. Acid rains can kill or damage plant life, devastate ecological systems, and toxify soils.

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation. Most scientists conclude that modern global temperature increases are due to anthropogenic causes due to the increase of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. CO2 emissions are attributed to automobiles and industrial processes and deforestation.

This is directly related to the greenhouse effect, which occurs when the sun's insolation is radiated onto the earth's surface and then re-radiated outward only to be trapped by a layer of gases [carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), water vapor (H2O)] in the atmosphere. In recent years, however, the layer of green house gases in the atmosphere has increased. This increase is chiefly attributed to anthropogenic gas emissions.

The fact is, while all of these processes are different, they all are related to each other and human interaction with the earth’s environment which can produce a variety of effects; some detrimental.

Answer 2

Global warnming is primarly caused by the depletion of the ozone layer. Man contributes to this by the amount of carbon monoxide we emit into the atmosphere. eg. car exhaust. In short, Carbon monoxide reacts with the ozone and therefore depletes it. With no ozone we lose most of our protection from the sun. Without it the earth would probably look like mars.
Acid rain is when acidic gases gets into the atmosphere reacts with rain making it more acidic. carbon monxide is a large contributor to acid rain. acid rain can become harmful if allowed to persist. It also destroys marble and limestone structures.
The greenhouse effect is basically when pollutant gases in the air allow sunlight in but traps the heat from getting back out. This is also a major cause of global warming.

Answer 3

carbon dioxide (not monoxide) is produced when coal/oil/diesel/petrol is burnt for power. Coal/oil etc are fossil fuels - they are made from fossilised stuff and mined/extracted from rock. So the carbon dioxide being added is really old too - it was buried in plant stuff millions of years ago and that's what turned into the oil & coal.

greenhouse effect is caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air. basically, sunlight passes through the carbon dioxide, hits the ground, warms it up and comes back as heat. But the carbon dioxide does not let the heat escape back into space. It acts light the glass in a green house trapping the heat inside.

acid rain - the other effect the carbon dioxide has is when it comes back to earth in the rain. through some chemical reactions, the rain become acidic - an acid called carbonic acid is dissolved in the water. that acid builds up in lakes and rivers and kills fish and trees!

global warming - because of the increasing amount of carbon dioxide being produce by all the fossil fuel being burnt, the green house effect is getting stronger. that's making the atmosphere get warmer and warmer. and it's happening all over the world. hence global warming.

hope that helps.

Answer 4

The greenhouse effect causes global warming. These are completely separate from ozone depletion
Ozone depletion: when CFCs from aerosol sprays and fridges get into the atmosphere they break down the ozone layer. This lets UV light through so organisms can get burnt and suffer skin cancer more often.
Carbon monoxide... not sure if it is a greenhouse gas, but it is dangerous if you breathe it in: it stops the haemoglobin in your red blood cells from taking up oxygen so you can suffocate. It is formed by incomplete combustion of fuels (to CO instead of CO2).
Acid rain is when oxides of sulphur and nitrogen released by car engines and burning fossil fuels dissolve in the water vapour in clouds in the sky. It then forms sulphuric and nitric acis and comes raining down.
The Greenhouse effect is when greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere and form a 'blanket' in the atmosphere. Normally the short wave radiation from the sun gets reflected back by the earth as short wave radiation, but here it is trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and warms it up: causes global warming.
We wouldn't survive without the greenhouse effect as it would be too cold for life, but recently we are releasing more greenhouse gases, so global warming is happening. Too much of a good thing: the planet is getting warmer.
Greenhouse gases are produced in different ways: Carbon dioxide from car exhausts and burning fossil fuels, methane from decaying organic matter and cow farts and water vapour has evaporated.
Hope this helps

Answer 5

I did a paper on acid rain MANY moons ago!
VERY SIMPLE VERSION!.....
The smoke & fumes you see (and don't see) coming from cars, industries etc... fill the sky and are absorbed into the clouds. The chemicals in the smoke then fall back to earth in the rain. The SO2 (sulphur dioxide) mixs with the water to give an acid - (sulphuric).
It can destroy buildings over the years - wears away the grave stones at the cemeteries - statues lose their features etc...

This is very basic compared to some of the other answers - but it got me through a chemistry 'O' level!
Bev

Answer 6

One serious threat is CH4, known too as methane and natural gaz. That stuff comes from decay of dead vegetation, and seems to have been trapped into the northern icebergs until they started to melt.

Methane directly causes the greenhouse effect AND is flammable at 5% to 15% concentration.

One of the worst scenarios I can imagine is the following: a layer of methane in the atmosphere could be ignited with enough heat and oxygen to start a combustion reaction. That means a red sky, more heat and more rain, as this formula tells...

CH4 + 2O2 --> CO2 + 2H2O

It would be entertaining however. :)

Answer 7

ok, i''ll do my best to explain it:

1. Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO, is a colourless, odourless, and tasteless gas. It is the product of the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing compounds, notably in internal-combustion engines. This essentially means that it is formed in exactly the same way as carbon dioxide, but it fails to form properly resulting in carbon monoxide instead of dioxide.
it has significant fuel value, burning in air with a characteristic blue flame, producing carbon dioxide. Despite its serious toxicity, CO is extremely useful and underpins much modern technology, being a precursor to a myriad of useful — even life-saving — products. It consists of one carbon atom covalently bonded to one oxygen atom. It is a gas at room temperature.

2.The term acid rain also known as acid precipitation is commonly used to mean the deposition of acidic components in rain, snow, dew, or dry particles. The more accurate term is "acid precipitation." Acid rain occurs when sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are emitted into the atmosphere, undergo chemical transformations and are absorbed by water droplets in clouds. The droplets then fall to earth as rain, snow, mist, dry dust, hail, or sleet. This increases the acidity of the soil, and affects the chemical balance of lakes and streams.[2]
The term "acid rain" is sometimes used more generally to include all forms of acid deposition — both wet deposition, where acidic gases and particles are removed by rain or other precipitation, and dry deposition removal of gases and particles to the Earth's surface in the absence of precipitation.
3. Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation.
Global average air temperature near the Earth's surface rose 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.3 ± 0.32 °F) during the past century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes, "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (anthropogenic = posh word for human activity)) greenhouse gas concentrations," which leads to warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes have probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950, but a small cooling effect since 1950. These basic conclusions have been endorsed by at least 30 scientific societies and academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists is the only scientific society that rejects these conclusions, and a few individual scientists also disagree with parts of them.

All of the above of caused by man's burning of fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide (or carbon monoxide) into the atmosphere. Because of the ozone layer, these gases get trapped and absorb heat, making the Earth warmer.