Q.Discuss the causes and effects of global warming. What measures need to be taken to control global warming?
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Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming
The greenhouse effect is the natural warming of the Earth caused by certain atmospheric gases. Sunlight reaches the Earth's surface, which absorbs it and re-emits heat as infrared (long-wave) radiation. Greenhouse gases — chiefly carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄), along with water vapour, nitrous oxide (N₂O) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — absorb and trap this outgoing infrared radiation, preventing its escape to space and reheating the atmosphere.
Without this effect the Earth would be too cold for life; however, rising anthropogenic emissions intensify it, causing global warming — an increase in average global temperature.
Relative contribution to global warming (approximate): CO₂ ≈ 60%, methane ≈ 20%, CFCs ≈ 14%, and N₂O ≈ 6% (values vary between sources). Methane, though present in smaller amounts, is a far more potent greenhouse gas per molecule than CO₂.
Consequences include melting of polar ice, rising sea levels, and shifts in rainfall and agriculture. Mitigation involves cutting fossil-fuel use, reforestation and reducing emissions of these gases. …
Global warming is caused by rising greenhouse-gas concentrations from fossil fuels, deforestation and industry, and it is controlled by cutting emissions, protecting forests, and switching to cleaner energy. …
Step 1. Causes. Rapid population growth, industrialisation and associated anthropogenic activity have raised the concentration of greenhouse gases -- water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and man-made CFCs -- in the atmosphere, chiefly through fossil-fuel combustion, deforestation (which removes carbon-absorbing forest cover) and industrial processes.
Step 2. Effects. These gases absorb outgoing radiant energy and warm the atmosphere and Earth's surface, which disrupts normal precipitation patterns (producing both flooding and desertification in different regions), makes coastal areas more vulnerable to storm surges as sea levels rise, and forces plant and animal species to migrate or face local disappearance; India's Nilgiri Tahr, for instance, is projected to lose roughly 60% of its habitat starting from the 2030s. …
Structure the answer around causes (GHG sources), effects (climate/ecosystem impacts), and control measures (emi …
- Naming only carbon dioxide as the cause, omitting methane, nitrous oxide and CFCs. …
Showing the 12 most recent of 17 on this concept.
- CBSE 2025Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which one of the following are greenhouse gases?(a) CO2, CFC, CH4, N2O(b) CO2, NO2, NH3, N2O(c) CH4, N2, NH3, CO2(d) CFC, CO2, N2O, NH3
›Reveal solutionSolution
The major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, CFCs, methane, and nitrous oxide.
Greenhouse gases trap outgoing long-wave (infrared) radiation from the Earth's surface, warming the atmosphere. The principal greenhouse gases are CO2 (carbon dioxide), CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), CH4 (methane), and N2O (nitrous oxide), along with water vapour. Gases like N2, NH3, and NO2 (in the forms listed in …
- CBSE 2024Set E1 markMCQQ.Which of the following is not the reason for global warming?(a) Use of fossil fuels(b) Deforestation(c) Population explosion(d) Improvement in the efficiency of energy use
›Reveal solutionSolution
Fossil-fuel use, deforestation and population explosion all worsen global warming; improving energy-use efficiency is a mitigation measure, not a cause.
Global warming is driven by rising greenhouse gases. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, deforestation removes the carbon sinks that absorb it, and population explosion increases overall consumption and emissions — all of these intensify global warming. Improving the efficiency of energy use, on …
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.One green house gas contributes 20% of total global warming and another contributes 60%. These are respectively identified as :(a) CH4 and CO2(b) N2O and CO2(c) CH4 and CFCs(d) CFCs and N2O
›Reveal solutionSolution
The gas contributing about 20% of global warming is methane (CH4) and the gas contributing about 60% is carbon dioxide (CO2), in that order -- option (a).
Working
Several gases contribute to the enhanced greenhouse effect and global warming, each in different proportions based on its atmospheric concentration and heat-trapping ability. Carbon dioxide (CO2), released mainly from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, is by far the largest contributor by total effect, conventionally cited at around 60% of the overall greenhouse contribution because of its sheer volume in the atmosphere. Methane (CH4), released from sources like paddy fields, livestock, and landfills, is a much more potent heat-trapping gas per molecule than CO2, but is present in far smaller quantities, giving it a smaller overall sh …
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Main example of greenhouse gas is -(a) Nitrogen(b) Carbon monoxide(c) Methane(d) Oxygen
›Reveal solutionSolution
Greenhouse gases trap infrared (heat) radiation reflected from the Earth's surface, causing global warming; methane is a well-known greenhouse gas, while nitrogen and oxygen are not.
Greenhouse gases absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation, warming the lower atmosphere (the greenhouse effect). The principal greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), water vapour and ozone.
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- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which of the following is not green house gas ?(a) CO_2(b) CH_4(c) CFCS(d) O_2
›Reveal solutionSolution
O2 is not a greenhouse gas.
Greenhouse gases trap outgoing infrared (heat) radiation and warm the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are all effective greenhouse gases. Molecular oxygen (O2), being a homonuclear diatomic molecule with no change in dipole moment on vibration, does not absorb IR radiation and therefore does not …
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.One greenhouse gas contributes 14% of total global warming and another contributes 60%. These are respectively identified as :(a) CH4 and CO2(b) N2O and CO2(c) CH4 and CFC(d) CFC and CO2
›Reveal solutionSolution
Of the two gases named, the 14% contributor is CFC and the 60% contributor is CO2.
The overall greenhouse effect is driven by several gases that absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation, but they do not all contribute equally. Carbon dioxide, released mainly by fossil-fuel combustion, deforestation and industrial processes, is both the most abundant and (cumulatively) the single largest contributor to global warming among these gases, commonly cited at about 60% of the total effect. Chlorofluorocarbons, entirely artificial compounds once widely used as refrigerants, propellants and solvents, are present in the atmosphere in far smaller quantities than CO2, but each CFC molecule has a very high global-warming potential (it absorbs infrared radiation far more strongly, molecule for molecule, than CO2), so CFCs are typically credited with about 14% of total global warming despite their low concentration -- this is also why the Montreal Protocol specifically targeted CFCs f …
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which of the following emits methane?(a) paddy field(b) animals(c) termites(d) all of these
›Reveal solutionSolution
Paddy fields, animals and termites all emit methane, so the answer is (D).
Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas produced by anaerobic decomposition (methanogenesis). Major biological sources include: flooded paddy (rice) fields, where waterlogged soils are anaerobic; the digestive tracts of ruminant animals like cattle, which harbour methanogenic ar …
- CBSE 2021Set D1 markMCQQ.Which of the following is not a greenhouse gas ?(a) Methane(b) Chlorofluorocarbon(c) CO2(d) Nitrogen
›Reveal solutionSolution
Nitrogen (N2) does not trap infrared radiation and is not a greenhouse gas, so the answer is (D).
Greenhouse gases absorb and re-radiate infrared (heat) radiation, warming the Earth's surface. The major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), nitrous oxide and water vapour.
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- CBSE 2021Set OC_ZOOLOGY1 markQ.Name the gas that contributes mainly to global warming.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Carbon dioxide (CO₂), released chiefly by burning fossil fuels and deforestation, is the greenhouse gas that contributes the most to global warming.
The greenhouse effect and global warming
- Certain atmospheric gases (called greenhouse gases) allow sunlight to pass through and reach the Earth's surface, but trap the outgoing infrared (heat) radiation, warming the atmosphere — this natural process is the greenhouse effect.
- Human activities have sharply increased the concentration of these gases, intensifying the greenhouse effect and causing global warming.
- The main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapour, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). …
- CBSE 2019Set BOTANY1 markMCQQ.Fill in the blank selecting the appropriate term given under the bit: The most common and abundant greenhouse gas is ____.(a) methane(b) CFC(c) carbon dioxide(d) nitrous oxide
›Reveal solutionSolution
Carbon dioxide, released mainly by burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, is present in the atmosphere in far greater quantity than the other greenhouse gases and is responsible for roughly half of the observed global warming.
Several gases in the atmosphere trap outgoing infrared radiation and produce the greenhouse effect, including carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrous oxide.
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- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which among the following is not a greenhouse gas ?(a) N2O(b) Methane(c) Carbon dioxide(d) Ozone
›Reveal solutionSolution
Of the four options, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (N2O) are the greenhouse gases that trap infra-red radiation and cause global warming; ozone is treated separately in the syllabus, as the layer that shields the Earth from UV-B (its depletion, not the greenhouse effect, is the issue associated with it).
Greenhouse gases are those atmospheric gases that absorb and re-radiate infra-red (heat) radiation reflected from the Earth's surface, trapping heat in the atmosphere and warming the planet (the 'greenhouse effect'). The gases most responsible for the recent rise in global warming are carbon dioxide (CO2 — from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation), methane (CH4 — from paddy fields, cattle, landfills), nitrous oxide (N2O — from fertiliser use, combustion) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
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- CBSE 2018Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Write name of any two green house gases.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Greenhouse gases are atmospheric gases that trap heat radiated from the earth's surface, causing global warming; common examples include carbon dioxide and methane.
Greenhouse gases absorb and re-radiate infrared (heat) radiation reflected from the earth's surface, warming the lower atmosphere - the greenhouse effect. The major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), released mainly by burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, and methane (CH4), released from paddy fields, ruminant digestion (cattle), an …
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