Which of the following gases has the highest global warming potential?
- A.Carbon dioxide
- B.Methane
- C.Nitrous oxide
- D.Sulphur hexafluoride
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, sulphur hexafluoride. Global warming potential measures how much heat a mass of a gas traps over a chosen period compared with the same mass of carbon dioxide, which is given the value one. Sulphur hexafluoride, used as an insulating gas in high voltage electrical switchgear, has by far the highest potential of the gases covered by the Kyoto basket, because it absorbs infrared radiation strongly and survives in the atmosphere for thousands of years.
Option A, carbon dioxide, is the reference gas with a potential of one; it matters most because of the sheer quantity released, not its strength. Option B, methane, traps much more heat than carbon dioxide over a century but breaks down in about a decade. Option C, nitrous oxide, is stronger still and also attacks stratospheric ozone, but neither comes close to sulphur hexafluoride.
Read the full article: Climate Change and Global Warming: Notes for Exams
Practice Questions
View allWhen carbon dioxide is increased in the atmosphere, it leads to ________.
- A.Global warming
- B.Air pressure
- C.Conservation
- D.Rains
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Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas: it lets in the short wave radiation of the sun but absorbs a part of the long wave infrared radiation that the warmed earth sends back, and radiates it downwards again.
Read the full explanation →The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by which two organisations?
- A.UNESCO and FAO
- B.The World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme
- C.The World Bank and the IMF
- D.WHO and the United Nations Development Programme
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The two bodies set up the panel in 1988 so that governments would have a single authoritative summary of what science says about climate change.
Read the full explanation →The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted at which conference?
- A.The Stockholm Conference, 1972
- B.The Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, 1992
- C.The Johannesburg Summit, 2002
- D.The Copenhagen Conference, 2009
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The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, popularly called the Earth Summit, produced the Framework Convention on Climate Change along with the Convention on Biological Diversity and Agenda 21.
Read the full explanation →The Kyoto Protocol, which set binding emission targets, was adopted in which year?
- A.1987
- B.1992
- C.1997
- D.2005
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The Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the third Conference of the Parties held in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 1997, and it came into force in 2005 after enough countries had ratified it.
Read the full explanation →Under the Paris Agreement of 2015, countries agreed to hold the rise in global average temperature to:
- A.Well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, pursuing efforts towards 1.5 degrees
- B.Exactly 3 degrees Celsius above present levels
- C.Below 5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100
- D.No numerical limit at all
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The Paris Agreement, adopted at the twenty-first Conference of the Parties in 2015 and in force from November 2016, commits its parties to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursuing efforts to limit the increase to one…
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