A student lists gases that trap heat and warm the atmosphere. Which list contains only greenhouse gases?
Question 1 Report
A student lists gases that trap heat and warm the atmosphere. Which list contains only greenhouse gases?
Answer Details
A greenhouse gas absorbs the infra-red radiation given out by the warmed Earth and re-radiates part of it back downwards, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and methane both do this, so the list containing only those two is the correct one.
Oxygen and nitrogen are the two main gases of the atmosphere, but each is made of two identical atoms bonded together and does not absorb infra-red in this way, so any list including either of them fails. Argon and helium are single-atom noble gases and are not greenhouse gases either. Notice the wording only greenhouse gases: one wrong entry spoils the whole list, so check every item rather than stopping at the first correct one.
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