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Student Guide 8
Student Guide 8
The Atmosphere
and Climate Change
• Properties of the Atmosphere
• The Carbon Cycle
• Greenhouse and Ozone-depleting Substances
• Climate Change and it’s Effects
• Regulations Mitigating the Climate Change Effects
Atmosphere
The atmosphere helps
protect living organisms from
genetic damage by solar
ultraviolet radiation, solar
wind and cosmic rays.
It is composed of about
78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen,
0.9%, and 0.1% other gases.
Trace amounts of carbon
dioxide, methane, water
vapor, and neon are some of
the other gases that make up
the remaining 0.1 percent.
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Atmospheric gases
Atmospheric gas Significance
Nitrogen A gas which is fixed by bacteria and lightning to produce
ammonia which is used in the building of nucleotides and
amino acids (protein).
Oxygen A gas used by most organisms for cell respiration.
Argon A noble gas obtained from the air as a byproduct of the
production of oxygen and nitrogen. Other noble gases in
trace amounts are neon, helium, krypton, and xenon.
Carbon dioxide One of the trace gases and used for photosynthesis by
photosynthetic algae, plants and cyanobacteria.
Water vapour A gas found in the lower layer or altitude of the
atmosphere. It accounts for roughly 0.25% of the
atmosphere by mass.
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Anthropogenic sources
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Volcanic eruptions emit water vapor and toxic gases into the
atmosphere such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide,
hydrochloric acid and carbon monoxide.
Natural sources
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Greenhouse gases
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Greenhouse gases
Gases Properties Produced or Found Effect on the climate
Carbon Dioxide A colorless odorless gas It is released through natural The excessive rise of CO2
(CO2) consisting of molecules processes like respiration and concentration in the
made up of two oxygen volcano eruptions atmosphere contribute to
atoms and one carbon atom change in temperature
Human activities such as
deforestation, land use changes,
and burning fossil fuels contribute
to its released in the environment.
Methane (CH4) A colorless, odorless non- It is produced through natural Affects climate by
toxic gas consisting of sources and human activities, such increasing Earth's
molecules made up of four as decomposition of wastes in temperature.
hydrogen atoms and one landfills, agriculture, and especially
carbon atom rice cultivation, as well as ruminant It has a global warming
digestion and manure potential of 34 compared to
management associated with 1 only for CO2 over a 100-
domestic livestock. year period.
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Greenhouse gases
Gases Properties Produced or Found Effect on the climate
Nitrous A colorless, non-flammable gas It is found and naturally Nitrous oxide has an
Oxide with a sweetish odor, commonly produced in oceans and rain atmospheric lifetime of 110
(N2O) known as "laughing gas", and forests. It is also a powerful gas years. It is not only a
sometimes used as an anesthetic produced by soil cultivation greenhouse gas, but also
practices, especially the use of an ozone destroyer.
commercial and organic
fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion,
nitric acid production, and
biomass burning.
Sulfur It is an inorganic, colorless, It comes from electric power It has a global warming
Hexafluoride odorless, non-flammable, non- plants. It is an excellent potential of 23,900x that
(SF6) toxic but extremely potent electrical insulator. of C02 when compared over
greenhouse gas. It is a a 100-year period. Sulfur
hypervalent molecule consists of hexafluoride is inert in the
six fluorine atoms attached to a troposphere and
central sulfur atom. SF6 is very stratosphere. It has an
persistent with an atmospheric estimated atmosphere
lifetime of more than a thousand lifetime of 800–3,200 years.
years
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Greenhouse gases
Gases Properties Produced or Found Effect on the climate
Hydrofluoro- It is an organic compound that They are frequently used in air It contributes to global
carbons contains fluorine and hydrogen conditioning and as refrigerants. warming, with thousands of
(HFCs) atoms. It is also the most common times the warming potential
type of organofluorine of carbon dioxide
compounds(organic compounds)
that contain the carbon-fluorine
bond
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU6pxSNDPhs&t=9s
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Ozone-depleting substances
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Ozone-depleting substances
Substance Uses
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Use in refrigerators, air conditioners, and foams; as
aerosol propellants
Halon Present in fire extinguishers
Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) As dry-cleaning solvent and a refrigerant; also, in fire
extinguishers
Methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3) As a solvent; present in many consumer products
Hydrobromofluorocarbons In fire suppression systems
(HBFCs)
Methyl bromide (CH3Br) For fumigation of soil, structures and goods to be
imported or exported
Bromochloromethane (CH2BrCl) As a fire extinguishing agent
Hydrochlorofluorocarbons In refrigerators, air conditioners, fire extinguishers and
(HCFCs) foams; as aerosol propellants
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Climate change
It is the long-term increase in the earth’s
average surface temperature and the large-
scale changes in global, regional, and local
weather patterns.
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Montreal Protocol is an
international treaty designed to
protect the ozone layer by
phasing out the production of
numerous substances that are
responsible for ozone depletion.
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Key takeaways…..
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Key takeaways…..
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