Carbon Dioxide

About Carbon Dioxide: 

• It is a colourless gas having a faint sharp odour and a sour taste.
• It is an important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas.
• It comes from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas), from wildfires, and natural processes like volcanic eruptions.
• It is one of the most important greenhouse gas (GHG) in the atmosphere and is the primary driver of anthropogenic climate change.
• The presence of the gas in the atmosphere keeps some of the radiant energy received by Earth from being returned to space, thus producing the so-called greenhouse effect.
• Carbon dioxide is used as a refrigerant, in fire extinguishers, for inflating life rafts and life jackets, blasting coal, foaming rubber and plastics, promoting the growth of plants in greenhouses, immobilizing animals before slaughter, and in carbonated beverages.
• Studies have shown that CO2 has contributed more than any driver to climate change.
  • It is much more abundant in the atmosphere compared to CH4 and HFCs.
  • CO2 remains in the atmosphere longer than the other major GHGs emitted due to human activities.
  • After a pulse of CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere, 40% will remain in the atmosphere for 100 years and 20% will reside for 1000 years, while the final 10% will take 10,000 years to turn over,” a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a US-based non-profit organisation

Q1: What is the greenhouse effect?

It is the process through which heat is trapped near Earth’s surface by substances known as ‘greenhouse gases.’ 

Source: Why CO2 is the primary driver of climate change

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