Processes that add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere: Humans burn fossil fuels such as oil, coal and

natural gases-this energy is used to power cars and other machines. The burning fuels however, release waste gas (carbon dioxide) which goes into the atmosphere. The human population is increasing therefore; more fuels are being used so more carbon dioxide is being released. Nature sources also release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere such as volcanic eruptions Processes that remove carbon dioxide to the atmosphere: Plants absorb light energy using chlorophyll in their leaves, this is used to react carbon dioxide with water to create the sugar, glucose. The equation for photosynthesis is: carbon dioxide + water (+ light energy) glucose + oxygen. Carbon dioxide also dissolves in the ocean, recent studies show that around half of all carbon dioxide produced by humans has dissolved into the worlds ocean. The equation for carbon dioxide dissolving in the ocean: CO+CO+HO -> 2HCO Why carbon dioxide levels are increasing Carbon dioxide has always been released into the atmosphere but over the last 200 years the amount of carbon dioxide has considerably increased this is because humans are burning more and more fossil fuels as energy sources and are burning large forest areas to use the land which means there is less plants to photosynthesise carbon dioxide from the air. Estimates show that humans have contributed 244 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide to Earth's atmosphere. The effects of increasing CO levels: Global warming is causing the earths weather patterns to change therefore; some places will be affected by floods whereas others will be affected by droughts. Melting polar ice caps will raise sea levels, this will make coasts erode more and will flood low-lying land. The rising levels of CO is also changing how animals live, polar bears have less ice to live on, birds are migrating at different times, warmer sea levels affect the sex of turtles so more female turtles are hatching instead of male, seals habitats are being swallowed up by the rising sea levels.

How Global Warming and the Greenhouse Gases work: The suns rays enter the earths atmosphere then, the heat is reflected back off of the surface of the earth. The o-zone layer is being destroyed all of the greenhouse gases therefore, the carbon dioxide is absorbing the heat, trapping it, which is heating the up the earth. Other greenhouses gases include: chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), methane(CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and tropospheric ozone (O3). Methane-The largest impact of methane on the climate is in wetlands; as the number of area used to make rice paddies increases so does the amount of methane being released. The equation for this is: CH3COOH --------> CO2 + CH4. When fossil fuels are burnt this is the equation that it produces: 6 O2 + C6H12O6 --------> 6 H2O + 6 CO2 + energy.

Uncertainty in the evidence: Recently, 67 German scientists took out a study on how much humans are to blame for global warming, this is what they discovered: humans have had no measurable effect on global warming through CO2 emissions. The temperature rises have been within normal ranges and are due to natural cycles, the atmosphere has not warmed since 1998 and the global temperature has even dropped since 2003. If all fossil fuels were burnt it is thought to only effect the warming by only a few tenths of a degree. Also, there have been no controlled experiments to prove that any of the assumptions being made are true. There is no evidence that the climate change is linked to carbon dioxide or global warming. History of the earths atmosphere In the first 500 million years of the earths existence a dense atmosphere emerged from the vapour and gases. These gases may have consisted of hydrogen (H2), water vapour, methane (CH4), and carbon oxides. The hydrosphere was formed 4 billion years ago from the condensation of water vapour, resulting in oceans of water in which sedimentation occurred. The e ancient environment consisted of no free oxygen. One billion years ago, early aquatic organisms called blue-green algae began to use energy from the Sun to split molecules of HO and CO and recombine them into oxygen (O) better known as photosynthesis. The remaining oxygen was then used to shield the Earth from UV radiation, wavelengths from 200 to 300 nanometres (nm), is believed to have been in existence 600 million years ago. At this time, the oxygen levels were approximately only 10% of what they are now. The ozone meant that animals could develop and live on the land. Ozone played a crucial part in the evolution of life on Earth, and allows life as we know to exist. As oxygen in the atmosphere increased, CO decreased. High in the atmosphere, some oxygen molecules absorbed energy from the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays and split to form single oxygen atoms. These atoms would then combine with the remaining oxygen to form ozone (O3) molecules, which absorb heat from the suns rays, the thin layer of ozone that surrounds Earth acts as a shield. Without this layer the earth is open the harmful UV rays.

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