22-04-2014, 12:11 PM
Causes of CO2 & methane
Causes of CO2.docx (Size: 190.72 KB / Downloads: 17)
Fossil fuels such as gasoline, methane and propane contain mostly carbon. When these fuels are burned, they react with oxygen and produce carbon dioxide.
C + O2 --------- CO2
Because of our heavy use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been increasing since the industrial revolution. The destruction of forests which use carbon dioxide also contributes to the increase in carbon dioxide.
It is the second biggest contributor to global warming. Methane occurs naturally and is the primary component of natural gas. It constitutes 1.8ppm, or 0.00018% of the atmosphere, much less than carbon dioxide.
Compared to carbon dioxide, methane is:
20 times more potent over 100 years
100 times more potent over 10 years
The difference in these numbers is partly because methane has a relatively short lifespan in our atmosphere. All told, methane is responsible for 20% of the current warming trend.