Exercise 6(D) — Very Short Answer Type
Q1.What do you mean by green house effect?
Ans-Green house effect is the process of warming of the earth's surface
and it's lower atmosphere, by absorption of infrared radiations of long
wavelength emitted out from the surface of the earth by greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone,
chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs), etc.
Q2.Name three green house gases.
Ans-Three green house gases are — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide.
Q3.Which of the following solar radiations pass through the atmosphere
of the earth?
X-rays, ultraviolet rays, visible light rays, infrared radiation.
Ans-The solar radiations that pass through the atmosphere of the earth
are visible light rays and infrared radiation.
Q4.Name the radiations which are absorbed by the green house gases.
Ans-The radiations which are absorbed by the green house gases
are infrared radiation of long wavelength.
Q5.What would have been the temperature of earth's atmosphere in
absence of green house gases in it?
Ans-In the absence of green house gases the average temperature on
earth would be -18°C instead of 15.5°C.
Exercise 6(D) — Short Answer Type
Q1.What results in the increase of carbon dioxide contents of earth’s
atmosphere?
Ans-The main human activities responsible for increase of the carbon
dioxide gas in the earth's atmosphere are —
1. The burning of fuels, deforestation, transportation and industrial
production (particularly cement factories).
2. Increase of population (human beings emit nearly 32 gigatonnes of
carbon dioxide each year).
3. Imbalance of carbon dioxide cycle (the ocean does not absorb full
amount of carbon dioxide and plants are not able to change all the
carbon dioxide into oxygen).
The increase in concentration of carbon dioxide due to the above human
activities is responsible for 60% increase in green house effect.
Q2.State the effect of green house gases on the temperature of earth’s
atmosphere.
Ans-The green house gases have an average warming effect of nearly
33°C so that the average temperature on earth's surface is about 15.5°C.
Q3.What do you mean by global warming?
Ans-Global warming means the increase in average effective
temperature near the earth's surface due to an increase in the amount of
green house gases in its atmosphere.
Q4.What causes the rise in atmospheric temperature?
Ans-The reason for rise in atmospheric temperature is the increase in
amount of green house gases present in the atmosphere.
As the green house gases increase they trap more and more of heat
radiated from the earth's surface. Thereby increasing the temperature of
the earth.
Q5.State the cause of increase of green house effect.
Ans-The reason for the increase in green house effect is the increase in
green house gases like carbon dioxide and methane.
Human activities responsible for increase of the carbon dioxide gas in
the earth's atmosphere are —
1. The burning of fuels, deforestation, transportation and industrial
production (particularly cement factories).
2. Increase of population (human beings emit nearly 32 gigatonnes of
carbon dioxide each year).
3. Imbalance of carbon dioxide cycle (the ocean does not absorb full
amount of carbon dioxide and plants are not able to change all the
carbon dioxide into oxygen).
The increase in concentration of carbon dioxide due to the above human
activities is responsible for 60% increase in green house effect.
Apart from this, rice cultivation, animal husbandry, natural gas
exploration, burning of bio mass in clearing of forests and leakage in
natural gas pipe line have doubled the concentration of methane which is
also responsible for the increase in green house effect.
Q6.What will be the effect of global warming at the poles?
Ans-Due to global warming, melting of ice is more and the area of sea
ice around the poles is shrinking. It is expected that in the next 50 years,
the ice at both the poles will melt completely and therefore the sea level
will rise.
Q7.State the effect of global warming in coastal regions.
Ans-As more ice is melting due to the effect of global waring, so,
buildings and roads in the coastal areas will get flooded and they could
suffer damage from hurricanes and tropical storms.
Q8.How will global warming affect the sea level?
Ans-Due to global warming, melting of ice is more and the area of sea
ice around the poles is shrinking. It is expected that in the next 50 years,
the ice at both the poles will melt completely and therefore the sea level
will rise.
Buildings and roads in the coastal areas will get flooded and they could
suffer damage from hurricanes and tropical storms.
Q9.How will global warming affect agriculture?
Ans-In the near future, warming of nearly 3°C will result in poor yield in
farms in low latitude regions and will increase the rise of malnutrition.
The crop yield is expected to increase in middle and high latitude
regions.
Therefore, the farmers will have to shift their farming region from low
latitudes to high latitudes.
Q10.State two ways to minimize the impact of global warming.
Ans-Ways to minimize the impact of global warming are —
1. Use of renewable source of energy for generation of electricity
instead of electricity from fossil fuel-based power plants.
2. Use of battery-operated vehicles such as electric cars, bikes and
scooters.
Q11.What is carbon tax? Who will pay it?
Ans-Since, industries emit carbon dioxide to a great extent, to check
them, they must be asked to pay carbon tax.
This tax can be calculated on the basis of carbon emission from the
industry, number of employee hours and turn over of the industry.
This will encourage the industry to use energy efficient offices and to
avoid the travelling of it's employees by having tele-conferencing.
Exercise 6(D) — Long Answer Type
Q1.State in detail the causes of global warming.
Ans-The cause of global warming is the increase in concentration of
greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere of the earth due to human
activities. The increase in different green house is as follows:
1. The concentration of carbon dioxide has increased upt 25% due to
industrial growth, combustion of fossil fuels, clearing of forests,
etc.
2. The concentration of methane has doubled due to agricultural
sources such as rice cultivation and animal husbandry, natural gas
exploration, burning of biomass, clearing of forests and leakage in
natural gas pipelines.
3. The concentration of chlorofluorocarbons has increased at a rate of
5% per year.
Q2.What technological measures are necessary to minimise the impact
of global warming
Ans-Three technological measures are necessary to minimise the impact
of global warming :
1. Use of renewable sources of energy for generation of electricity
instead of generating electricity from fossil fuel-based power
plants — Fossil fuel-based power plants are major contributors to
greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 21.3% of total
emissions. To mitigate this impact, it is essential to shift towards
alternative energy sources like wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal
energy for electricity generation. Thus, it is necessary to phase out
fossil fuel-based power plants and encourage the adoption of
cleaner energy sources.
2. Use of battery operated vehicles such as electric cars, bikes and
scooters — Traditional vehicles powered by internal combustion
engines contribute approximately 14% of the total greenhouse gas
emission. Switching to battery-operated vehicles and charging
them with electricity from renewable sources will greatly decrease
carbon dioxide emissions. These vehicles must be used in full
capacity and size of the vehicles must be reduced.
3. Use of bio-char stoves for cooking — In developing countries,
biomass is commonly used for cooking, leading to a significant
increase in greenhouse gas emissions. To address this issue, it is
crucial to employ new technology that utilizes specially designed
bio-char stoves. These stoves burn biomass in the absence of air,
resulting in the production of smokeless combustible gases like
methane and hydrogen, leaving a charcoal residue which can be
buried in soil.
Q3.What policy measures should the government enforce in order to
minimise global warming ?
Ans-The policy measures that the government should enforce in order to
minimise global warming are:
1. Educating children to live a sustainable lifestyle — We need to
educate the children that genuine happiness lies in a less
competitive and more cooperative society. Consuming more and
buying more must not be the aim of life. For a sustainable life, we
must make full use of what we have. The materialistic gains give
only temporary happiness.
2. Controlling population through family planning, welfare reforms
and empowerment of women — The world population is expected
to increase from 7.1 billion in 2012 to 9.15 billion by the year
2050, with most of the growth taking place in developing
countries. This needs to be controlled. Following measures can be
taken:
i. free and easy access to family planning
ii. welfare provisions to encourage smaller families
iii. empowerment of women and freedom to choose their career
(because educated women are more conscious about family
planning due to their career commitments.)
