Does burning coal increase the amount of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere?

Answer 1

Coal is a fossil fuel which holds carbon which has been trapped underground for millions of years. When it is burnt the carbon dioxide is released where it adds to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Answer 2

Gases released from the burning of the coal are greenhouse gases and they trap in the heat of the sun so that the atmosphere heats up but instead of cooling down at night, these gases keep the heat in

Answer 3

Yes. When any carbon-based fuel, including coal and oil, is burned it is converted largely into carbon dioxide. Because coal adds to the total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it contributes to global warming.

Answer 4

This is a very good question.

I've listed three links, which I think you should review very carefully.

Scientists have known, or at least had theories on the greenhouse effect for over 100 years (see Wikipedia link). It helps explain why the earth's temperature is so different from Mars (very cold) and Venus (extremely hot). Our relatively moderate and constant temperatures ( I know it doesn't seem that way sometimes) are due to the greenhouse effect. The "greenhouse gases" let sunlight in from the sun, which is mostly in the visible spectrum. However, when sun rays hit the surface of the earth, they can change and get reflected back with more light with higher wave length (infrared sunlight) and the greenhouse gases interact (disperse) with the reflected light, letting only some of it escape into deeper space.

So, you can think of greenhouse gases as like a door man that lets everyone in but on the way out, doesn't allow everyone to leave because they have changed a bit after being reflected. It's a temperature regulator that has worked pretty well for thousands or millions of years.

But, the burning of fossil fuels has released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, resulting in higher average earth temperatures. Other processes, such as de-forestation also result in increased carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. There is controversy as to the degree that our planet is warming but the theory of the greenhouse effect has been well confirmed by atmospheric models and the only way to account for our planet's temperature being different from the other planets.

Answer 5

Burning coal produces carbon dioxide. Another green house gas, methane, is often present with coal in the ground and can be released when coal is excavated. Some methane is also deliberately produced from coal beds by drilling from the surface, because methane is the major constituent of natural gas, a valuable fuel.

Answer 6

Yes, coal is one of the "fossil fuels". (The others are oil and natural gas and some other hydrocarbon products.) Burning coal releases carbon dioxide, specifically the carbon that was laid down underground 300 million years ago. This adds to the normal amount of greenhouse gases in the air. This overload is what is warming up and causing global warming.

Answer 7

It's a cause for concern because greenhouse gases are building up in the atmosphere, especially Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which is released when coal (and any fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas)) is burnt.

The carbon cycle removes all the carbon emitted by nature, as well as more than half the CO2 emitted by man, but the remainder has been building up in the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It is this that is causing global warming, and global warming is causing climate change.

Answer 8

Yes, coal is one of the fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), and burning it releases carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are causing global warming and climate change.

Answer 9

The actual burning of the coal contributes more to global warming than the mining itself.