Amongst the following Green House Gases (GHGs), whose Global Warming Potential (GWP) is considered as 1?
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Global Warming Potential (GWP) is a relative index that expresses how much heat a given greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere over a specified time period (commonly 100 years) compared with the same mass of a reference gas. A benchmark gas must be chosen as the reference and assigned the value 1, and every other gas is then measured against it.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is that reference gas, so by definition its GWP is exactly 1. This is why it is the correct choice — the whole GWP scale is built around CO2 as the baseline.
Measured against this baseline, the other listed gases have far higher potentials: Methane (CH4) has a GWP of roughly 28 over 100 years, Nitrous Oxide (N2O) around 265, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) range from several thousand up to tens of thousands. Because each of these traps far more heat per unit mass than CO2, none of them can carry the reference value of 1.
It is worth noting that although CO2 has the lowest per-molecule warming potential of the four, it remains the single largest contributor to human-caused global warming — simply because it is emitted in vastly greater quantities and persists in the atmosphere for a very long time.
Correct answer: Carbon dioxide (CO2).
Similar Questions
In the context of climate change which of the following observations are correct for 20th century with reference to 1750?
A. The global average surface temperature has increased by 0.6°C.
B. Greater increase in daytime temperature than night time has been observed.
C. Global average sea level rose 0.1-0.2 m largely due to thermal expansion.
D. The atmosphere concentration of Carbon dioxide (CO2) has increased by 31%.
E. Precipitation in the northern hemisphere has decreased by 1% per decade.
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Greenhouse gas, which is present in the highest quantity in the atmosphere, is
Which one of the following gases have higher Global Warming Potential?
Which of the following two sources of carbon is released?
A) Volcanic eruption
B) Combustion of fossil fuels
C) Landslide
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