Nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide is another greenhouse gas which consists of two nitrogen molecules and an oxygen molecule. As of 2015, nitrous oxide accounted for five percent of the greenhouse gases in the environment. Although nitrous oxide occurs naturally through Earth's nitrogen cycle, roughly forty percent of the nitrous oxide, N2O, released into the atmosphere is due to human activity. Practices such as farming and fossil fuel combustion are the leading reasons for the release of so much nitrous oxide.
Though carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the environment, nitrous oxide sticks around for at least 114 years. This makes it so that one pound of N2O is about three hundred times more impactful in warming the environment than is carbon dioxide. The International Panel of Climate Change decreed that about 17 million tons of N2O are released into the atmosphere every year, yet how nitrous oxide forms is still a mystery. Some research shows that microbes called nitrifiers can convert ammonia into nitrous oxide but are only capable of doing so in the presence of oxygen. Dentrifiers also play a part though they cannot work so well in the presence of oxygen.
Though carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the environment, nitrous oxide sticks around for at least 114 years. This makes it so that one pound of N2O is about three hundred times more impactful in warming the environment than is carbon dioxide. The International Panel of Climate Change decreed that about 17 million tons of N2O are released into the atmosphere every year, yet how nitrous oxide forms is still a mystery. Some research shows that microbes called nitrifiers can convert ammonia into nitrous oxide but are only capable of doing so in the presence of oxygen. Dentrifiers also play a part though they cannot work so well in the presence of oxygen.