Question

Name any one greenhouse gas and its possible source of production on a large scale. What are the harmful effects of it?

Answer 1

Hint: A natural process of heating up of the earth’s surface is known as the green house effect. When the sun’s energy reaches the earth’s atmosphere, some amount of it is reflected back to space and the rest of it is absorbed and re-radiated by some of the gases present in the earth’s atmosphere. These gases are known as greenhouse gases. The absorbed heat or energy warms the atmosphere and surface of earth causing a greenhouse effect. The gases responsible for it are carbon dioxide, methane nitrous oxide, and water vapor (naturally occurring) and fluorinated gases (which are synthetic).

Complete answer:
One of the major greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide which is considered as a pollutant nowadays because excess of it in the atmosphere is causing harm to humans and plants as well as animals. Carbon dioxide traps longer wavelength IR radiations reflected by earth’s surface, and thus causing global warming. The sources of production of \[C{O_2}\] gas are combustion of fossil fuels, electricity generation, transportation and industries. Both natural and human sources are responsible for the emission of \[C{O_2}\] gas on a large scale. Though human sources of \[C{O_2}\] emission are much less than natural causes but they have upset the natural balance.
Carbon Dioxide Emissions:
Human Sources: Activities such as burning of coal, natural gas and oils \[\left( {87\% } \right)\], deforestation are some of the primary causes of \[C{O_2}\] production. Others are electricity and heat sector, transportation sector, industrial sector, land use changes and cutting of forests \[\left( {9\% } \right)\], industrial processes \[\left( {4\% } \right)\].
Natural Sources: Natural sources that are responsible for \[C{O_2}\] production are ocean-atmosphere exchange \[\left( {42.84\% } \right)\], plant and animal respiration \[\left( {28.56\% } \right)\], soil respiration and decomposition \[\left( {28.56\% } \right)\] and volcanic eruptions \[\left( {0.03\% } \right)\].
Harmful effects of carbon dioxide gas: Exposure to carbon dioxide gas produces a variety of health effects. These are headaches, dizziness, restlessness, a tingling or pins or needles feeling, difficulty in breathing, sweating, tiredness, increased heart rate, high blood pressure, coma, asphyxia and convulsions in the body, etc.

Note:
 Other effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gases are extreme weather, food supply disruptions, and increased wildfires. Air pollution is the major effect of greenhouse gases on the atmosphere. Earth’s natural average annual temperature would be below freezing instead of close to \[60^\circ F\] without this natural greenhouse effect but an increase of it has tipped the energy budget of earth out of balance by trapping extra heat and raising the average earth’s temperature. Though \[C{O_2}\] as gas is not harmful to humans because the human breathing mechanism actually revolves around \[C{O_2}\] but it's an extra amount in the atmosphere.