Question

Increase in which of the following gases cause global warming?
A. Carbon dioxide
B. Oxygen
C. Nitrogen
D. Argon

Answer 1

Greenhouse gases are those gases that absorb the infrared radiation in the wavelength range emitted by Earth. These absorbed radiations heat the atmosphere of earth which results in greenhouse effect and also global warming.

Complete answer:
A greenhouse gas (which can also be abbreviated as GHG) is a gas that absorbs and emits the radiant energy within the thermal infrared range which eventually causes the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases which present on the atmosphere of Earth are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone.

The major constituents in the atmosphere of Earth are not greenhouse gases such as nitrogen, oxygen and argon. They are called non-greenhouse gases because molecules containing two atoms have no net change in the distribution, of the same element, of their electrical charges when they start vibrating and the monatomic gases such as Ar do not have any vibrational modes.

There are molecules which contain only two atoms of different elements namely carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen chloride (HCl). They do absorb infrared radiation, but try to have short life in the atmosphere owing to their reactivity or solubility. Therefore, they are not responsible much for the greenhouse effect and so they are not considered when discussing greenhouse gases.

Carbon-dioxide is a greenhouse gas and it is responsible for Global-Warming. A layer of carbon dioxide which is present in the atmosphere traps the infrared radiation coming from earth's surface and then it eventually heats the earth's atmosphere which results in global warming.

Hence, option A is the correct answer.

Note: Carbon monoxide and Hydrogen chloride are not considered as greenhouse gases even though they absorb some infrared radiation because of their short life span. They do not contribute much as compared to the greenhouse gases.