CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING
Global warming is a term used to describe a series of disruptive worldwide climate changes that threaten the stability of a variety of ecosystems, ranging from the polar ice caps to the plains of the central United States to the South American rain forests. It is generally accepted that byproducts of human life and industry are the main causes of the issue. However, it should be noted there is still debate among the scientific community about whether global warming is real.
CARBON DIOXIDE
A large cause of global warming is carbon dioxide released from human made devices. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which means in large and unnatural amounts it can trap heat inside the atmosphere and disrupt solar light. Power plants, automobiles and airplanes are major producers of carbon dioxide. Power plants use fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas and oil, to create electrical power, and are responsible for 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. Automobiles burning gasoline are responsible for around 33 percent of the country's carbon dioxide emissions, while aviation around the word accounts for between 3 percent and 15 percent.
DEFORESTATION
Carbon dioxide levels have also been affected by deforestation. Trees are natural combatants of global warming because they are able to process carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as sustenance and return it to the air as oxygen. However, the commercial destruction of the world's tree population has diminished one of the key deterrents of global warming.
METHANE
Methane is another naturally occurring greenhouse gas that has abnormally increased in amount due to human behavior. Methane is commonly released in flatulence from cows as well as from soil bacteria in rice paddies. The huge growth in both the bovine and rice industries over the past 100 years have resulted in the exponential increase in cattle farms and rice paddies, which have helped shift methane levels in the atmosphere to unheard of levels. Methane is also a byproduct of many of the techniques used to harvest and control fossil fuels.
WATER VAPOR
An increased amount of water vapor in the atmosphere has recently been identified as contributing to global warming. As greenhouse gas levels have grown and increased the mean atmospheric temperature, they have created ideal warmer temperatures for water vapor and humidity to form. Like carbon dioxide and methane, water vapor has the ability to stop heat and other gases from leaving the Earth's atmosphere, perpetuating the destructive warming cycle.
NITROUS OXIDE
nitrous oxide, also referred to as laughing gas, is a contributor to global warming that occurs both naturally and in response to human activity. it is released during the production of nitrogen based products, like nylon, fertilizers, catalytic converters and nitric acid. nitrous oxide is also released when organic matter is burned, such as leaves or wood.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Greenhouse gases are the ingredients of the atmosphere that add to the greenhouse effect. Some greenhouse gases are present naturally in the atmosphere, whereas few green house gases a consequence of human activity. The greenhouse gases that are present in the atmosphere naturally include water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and ozone. There are a few human activities, which increase the levels of most of these naturally occurring gases. The concentration of various green house effect gases has substantially increased in the recent times.
Greenhouse gases, which are the major cause of global warming, trap heat in the earth's atmosphere. Since the middle of the 19th century, human agriculture and industrialization have dispensed an enormous quantity of these green house gases into the atmosphere, where these have trapped enough heat to begin climate change. According to the United Nations, there has been a rise of about 0.6 degrees Celsius during the past century. More warming is expected to occur in the coming decades
The main reasons for the emission of gases that are a cause of green house effect are burning of fossil fuel like coal in the power plants for the purpose of generation of electricity. Fossil fuel burning leads to high emissions of carbon dioxide gas. Another green house gas is methane. Methane is more than 20 times as effectual as CO2 at entrapping heat in the atmosphere.
Methane is obtained from resources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. Almost in all parts of the world, rice is grown on flooded fields. When fields are flooded, anaerobic situation build up and the organic matter in the soil decays, releasing methane to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide, which is a colorless gas with a sweet odor, is also a green house gas. The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic converters, the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. A greater emission of nitrous oxides in the recent decades is leading global warming. Another jump in the category of green house gases is in the name of hydroflourocarbons and perflourocarbons, man made chemicals initiated as a substitute to other chemicals that deplete the atmosphere's protective ozone layer.
The speedy increase in greenhouse gases over the past century is a matter of worry in at least 800,000 years, according to a study of the oldest Antarctic ice core. Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge have established the fact that there have been eight cycles of atmospheric alterations in the past 800,000 years when green house gases like carbon dioxide and methane have risen to high levels. Each time, the earth also had a comparatively high temperatures linked with warm; inter glacial periods, which were most certainly associated with levels of carbon dioxide and probably methane in the atmosphere. However, present levels of green house gases are much higher than everything seen during those previous warm periods.
Although much is being done to reduce the emission of these green house gases, but the efforts are still not enough. An international agreement called the Kyoto Protocol has been made among the various nations to cut down the emission of these gases. There is a dire need that each one understands the ill effects of these green house gases and does the need full.
Greenhouse gases, which are the major cause of global warming, trap heat in the earth's atmosphere. Since the middle of the 19th century, human agriculture and industrialization have dispensed an enormous quantity of these green house gases into the atmosphere, where these have trapped enough heat to begin climate change. According to the United Nations, there has been a rise of about 0.6 degrees Celsius during the past century. More warming is expected to occur in the coming decades
The main reasons for the emission of gases that are a cause of green house effect are burning of fossil fuel like coal in the power plants for the purpose of generation of electricity. Fossil fuel burning leads to high emissions of carbon dioxide gas. Another green house gas is methane. Methane is more than 20 times as effectual as CO2 at entrapping heat in the atmosphere.
Methane is obtained from resources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. Almost in all parts of the world, rice is grown on flooded fields. When fields are flooded, anaerobic situation build up and the organic matter in the soil decays, releasing methane to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide, which is a colorless gas with a sweet odor, is also a green house gas. The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic converters, the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. A greater emission of nitrous oxides in the recent decades is leading global warming. Another jump in the category of green house gases is in the name of hydroflourocarbons and perflourocarbons, man made chemicals initiated as a substitute to other chemicals that deplete the atmosphere's protective ozone layer.
The speedy increase in greenhouse gases over the past century is a matter of worry in at least 800,000 years, according to a study of the oldest Antarctic ice core. Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge have established the fact that there have been eight cycles of atmospheric alterations in the past 800,000 years when green house gases like carbon dioxide and methane have risen to high levels. Each time, the earth also had a comparatively high temperatures linked with warm; inter glacial periods, which were most certainly associated with levels of carbon dioxide and probably methane in the atmosphere. However, present levels of green house gases are much higher than everything seen during those previous warm periods.
Although much is being done to reduce the emission of these green house gases, but the efforts are still not enough. An international agreement called the Kyoto Protocol has been made among the various nations to cut down the emission of these gases. There is a dire need that each one understands the ill effects of these green house gases and does the need full.
Global Warming is increasing the earth’s average temperature.
The Green house gases are the main culprits of the global warming. The green house gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are playing hazards in the present times. These green house gases trap heat in earth’s atmosphere and thus result in increasing the temperature of earth. The excessive emission of these gases is the major cause of global warming.
The major source of carbon dioxide is the power plants.
These power plants emit large amounts of carbon dioxide produced from burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation. Coal is the major fuel that is burnt in these power plants. Coal produces around 1.7 times as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy when flamed as does natural gas and 1.25 times as much as oil. The coal gives out eighty percent more carbon per unit of energy it produces as compared to natural gas. Another major source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the emission from the cars and other vehicles. About twenty percent of carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere comes from burning of gasoline in the engines of the vehicles. This is true for most of the developed countries. Moreover if sports bike and vehicles that are essentially designed for rough terrain, emit more carbon dioxide when used for general purpose on roads. It is always better to use vehicles designed for city driving on the city roads.
Buildings, both commercial and residential represent a larger source of global warming pollution than cars and trucks.
Building of these structures require a lot of fuel to be burnt which emits a large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The second major greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, which causes global warming, is Methane.
Methane is more than 20 times as effectual as CO2 at entrapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane is obtained from resources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. Almost in all parts of the world, rice is grown on flooded fields. When fields are flooded, anaerobic situation build up and the organic matter in the soil decays, releasing methane to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide, which is a colorless gas with a sweet odour, is another green house gas. The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic converters, the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. Greater emissions of nitrous oxides in the recent decades is leading global warming
Another major cause of global warming is deforestation.
Deforestation is to be blamed for 25% of all carbon dioxide release entering the atmosphere, by the cutting and burning of about 34 million acres of trees each year. Trees collect the CO2 that we breathe out and give away from various other sources, and they give back oxygen that we breathe in. Thus, cutting of trees is leading to greater concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Greater urbanization, requirement of land for factories and buildings, requirement of timber are all reasons that are leading to deforestation, which in turn is leading to global warming.
The Green house gases are the main culprits of the global warming. The green house gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are playing hazards in the present times. These green house gases trap heat in earth’s atmosphere and thus result in increasing the temperature of earth. The excessive emission of these gases is the major cause of global warming.
The major source of carbon dioxide is the power plants.
These power plants emit large amounts of carbon dioxide produced from burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation. Coal is the major fuel that is burnt in these power plants. Coal produces around 1.7 times as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy when flamed as does natural gas and 1.25 times as much as oil. The coal gives out eighty percent more carbon per unit of energy it produces as compared to natural gas. Another major source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the emission from the cars and other vehicles. About twenty percent of carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere comes from burning of gasoline in the engines of the vehicles. This is true for most of the developed countries. Moreover if sports bike and vehicles that are essentially designed for rough terrain, emit more carbon dioxide when used for general purpose on roads. It is always better to use vehicles designed for city driving on the city roads.
Buildings, both commercial and residential represent a larger source of global warming pollution than cars and trucks.
Building of these structures require a lot of fuel to be burnt which emits a large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The second major greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, which causes global warming, is Methane.
Methane is more than 20 times as effectual as CO2 at entrapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane is obtained from resources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. Almost in all parts of the world, rice is grown on flooded fields. When fields are flooded, anaerobic situation build up and the organic matter in the soil decays, releasing methane to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide, which is a colorless gas with a sweet odour, is another green house gas. The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic converters, the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. Greater emissions of nitrous oxides in the recent decades is leading global warming
Another major cause of global warming is deforestation.
Deforestation is to be blamed for 25% of all carbon dioxide release entering the atmosphere, by the cutting and burning of about 34 million acres of trees each year. Trees collect the CO2 that we breathe out and give away from various other sources, and they give back oxygen that we breathe in. Thus, cutting of trees is leading to greater concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Greater urbanization, requirement of land for factories and buildings, requirement of timber are all reasons that are leading to deforestation, which in turn is leading to global warming.
THE MAIN CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING
It took more than 20 years to broadly accept that mankind is causing global warming with the emission of greenhouse gases. The drastic increase in the emission of CO2 (carbon dioxide) within the last 30 years caused by burning fossil fuels has been identified as the major reason for the change of temperature in the atmosphere (click the following link for a summary and graphs about the cause and effects of global warming ).
More than 80% of the world-wide energy demand is currently supplied by the fossil fuels coal, oil or gas. It will be impossible to find alternative sources, which could replace fossil fuels in the short or medium term. The energy demand is simply too high.
Another issue is the non-renewable characteristic of fossil fuels: It took nature millions of years to generate these resources, however we will have used them up within the next decades. Alone the shrinking supply will not make it possible to continue as usual for a longer time.
The main cause of global warming is our treatment of Nature
· Why have warnings about climate change been ignored for more than 20 years?
· Why were ever more scientific evidence demanded to find the coherence of man-made CO2 emissions as cause of global warming? Why wasn't common sense reason enough to act?
· Why can one still today find people who stick their head in the sand and don't want to understand what's going on in the earth's atmosphere?
· Why do most people refuse to change their personal behavior voluntary in order to reduce CO2 emissions caused by their activities?
The answer to all these questions is a rather simple one:
In our technology and scientific minded world, we seem to have forgotten that mankind is only a relatively minor part of Nature. We ignore being part of a larger whole.
We believe to be able to control Nature instead of trying to arrange ourselves with Nature. This haughtiness is the true main cause of global warming. As a matter of fact, some people still believe that technical solutions alone would be sufficient to fight global warming.
Although we are guests on Earth, we behave as if no further visitors would arrive after us. It's like having a wild party where we destroy beds, the kitchen as well as the living room of a hotel without ever thinking about our future staying in the hotel nor about other guests arriving later.
In addition, our unit of measure is more and more often money only. What has no price tag, seems to have no value to us any more. In doing so we mix up economic growth with general well-being and financial income with personal happiness, respectively.
There is a loss of value behind this attitudes. We got blind for the true reason of our incarnation on earth:
We live here to train those traits , which will finally lead to perpetual harmony with ourselves and with our environment as well as to inner calm and peace.
It took more than 20 years to broadly accept that mankind is causing global warming with the emission of greenhouse gases. The drastic increase in the emission of CO2 (carbon dioxide) within the last 30 years caused by burning fossil fuels has been identified as the major reason for the change of temperature in the atmosphere (click the following link for a summary and graphs about the cause and effects of global warming ).
More than 80% of the world-wide energy demand is currently supplied by the fossil fuels coal, oil or gas. It will be impossible to find alternative sources, which could replace fossil fuels in the short or medium term. The energy demand is simply too high.
Another issue is the non-renewable characteristic of fossil fuels: It took nature millions of years to generate these resources, however we will have used them up within the next decades. Alone the shrinking supply will not make it possible to continue as usual for a longer time.
The main cause of global warming is our treatment of Nature
· Why have warnings about climate change been ignored for more than 20 years?
· Why were ever more scientific evidence demanded to find the coherence of man-made CO2 emissions as cause of global warming? Why wasn't common sense reason enough to act?
· Why can one still today find people who stick their head in the sand and don't want to understand what's going on in the earth's atmosphere?
· Why do most people refuse to change their personal behavior voluntary in order to reduce CO2 emissions caused by their activities?
The answer to all these questions is a rather simple one:
In our technology and scientific minded world, we seem to have forgotten that mankind is only a relatively minor part of Nature. We ignore being part of a larger whole.
We believe to be able to control Nature instead of trying to arrange ourselves with Nature. This haughtiness is the true main cause of global warming. As a matter of fact, some people still believe that technical solutions alone would be sufficient to fight global warming.
Although we are guests on Earth, we behave as if no further visitors would arrive after us. It's like having a wild party where we destroy beds, the kitchen as well as the living room of a hotel without ever thinking about our future staying in the hotel nor about other guests arriving later.
In addition, our unit of measure is more and more often money only. What has no price tag, seems to have no value to us any more. In doing so we mix up economic growth with general well-being and financial income with personal happiness, respectively.
There is a loss of value behind this attitudes. We got blind for the true reason of our incarnation on earth:
We live here to train those traits , which will finally lead to perpetual harmony with ourselves and with our environment as well as to inner calm and peace.
Greenhouse Effect Example
Bright sunlight will effectively warm your car on a cold, clear day by the greenhouse effect. The longer infrared wavelengths radiated by sun-warmed objects do not pass readily through the glass. The entrapment of this energy warms the interior of the vehicle. The trapping of the hot air so that it cannot rise and lose the energy by convection also plays a major role.
Short wavelengths of visible light are readily transmitted through the transparent windshield. (Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see through it!)
Shorter wavelengths of ultraviolet light are largely blocked by glass since they have greater quantum energies which have absorption mechanisms in the glass. Even though you may be uncomfortably warm with bright sunlight streaming through, you will not be sunburned.
Bright sunlight will effectively warm your car on a cold, clear day by the greenhouse effect. The longer infrared wavelengths radiated by sun-warmed objects do not pass readily through the glass. The entrapment of this energy warms the interior of the vehicle. The trapping of the hot air so that it cannot rise and lose the energy by convection also plays a major role.
Short wavelengths of visible light are readily transmitted through the transparent windshield. (Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see through it!)
Shorter wavelengths of ultraviolet light are largely blocked by glass since they have greater quantum energies which have absorption mechanisms in the glass. Even though you may be uncomfortably warm with bright sunlight streaming through, you will not be sunburned.
Greenhouse Effect
The greenhouse effect refers to circumstances where the short wavelengths of visible light from the sun pass through a transparent medium and are absorbed, but the longer wavelengths of the infrared re-radiation from the heated objects are unable to pass through that medium. The trapping of the long wavelength radiation leads to more heating and a higher resultant temperature. Besides the heating of an automobile by sunlight through the windshield and the namesake example of heating the greenhouse by sunlight passing through sealed, transparent windows, the greenhouse effect has been widely used to describe the trapping of excess heat by the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide strongly absorbs infrared and does not allow as much of it to escape into space.
A major part of the efficiency of the heating of an actual greenhouse is the trapping of the air so that the energy is not lost by convection. Keeping the hot air from escaping out the top is part of the practical "greenhouse effect", but it is common usage to refer to the infrared trapping as the "greenhouse effect" in atmospheric applications where the air trapping is not applicable.
The greenhouse effect refers to circumstances where the short wavelengths of visible light from the sun pass through a transparent medium and are absorbed, but the longer wavelengths of the infrared re-radiation from the heated objects are unable to pass through that medium. The trapping of the long wavelength radiation leads to more heating and a higher resultant temperature. Besides the heating of an automobile by sunlight through the windshield and the namesake example of heating the greenhouse by sunlight passing through sealed, transparent windows, the greenhouse effect has been widely used to describe the trapping of excess heat by the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide strongly absorbs infrared and does not allow as much of it to escape into space.
A major part of the efficiency of the heating of an actual greenhouse is the trapping of the air so that the energy is not lost by convection. Keeping the hot air from escaping out the top is part of the practical "greenhouse effect", but it is common usage to refer to the infrared trapping as the "greenhouse effect" in atmospheric applications where the air trapping is not applicable.
Temperature and Heat
Temperature and heat are not the same phenomenon. Temperature is a measure of the intensity or degree of hotness in a body. Technically, it is determined by getting the average speed of a body's molecules. Heat is a measure of the quantity of heat energy present in a body. The spatial distribution of temperature in a body determines heat flow. Heat always flows from warmer to colder areas.
The heat held in an object depends not only on its temperature but also its mass. For example, let us compare the heating of two different masses of water (Table 1). In this example, one mass has a weight of 5 grams, while the other is 25 grams. If the temperature of both masses is raised from 20 to 25° Celsius, the larger mass of water will require five times more heat energy for this increase in temperature. This larger mass would also contain 5 times more stored heat energy.
Temperature and heat are not the same phenomenon. Temperature is a measure of the intensity or degree of hotness in a body. Technically, it is determined by getting the average speed of a body's molecules. Heat is a measure of the quantity of heat energy present in a body. The spatial distribution of temperature in a body determines heat flow. Heat always flows from warmer to colder areas.
The heat held in an object depends not only on its temperature but also its mass. For example, let us compare the heating of two different masses of water (Table 1). In this example, one mass has a weight of 5 grams, while the other is 25 grams. If the temperature of both masses is raised from 20 to 25° Celsius, the larger mass of water will require five times more heat energy for this increase in temperature. This larger mass would also contain 5 times more stored heat energy.
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