Products from Oil

How does Oil affect the Environment?

Fossil fuels are burnt on a huge scale.

Global Warming.

Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas.
It is causing the global temperature of the Earth to rise.
This rise in temperature affects the climate all over the planet in
ways which are hard to predict. Some areas may become wetter
or dryer, other areas may become hotter. The main (predictable)
directions of wind and ocean currents on the planet may slow
down
, speed up, or change direction. This could have catastrophic
consequences for life on planet Earth, including rising sea levels
because of ice melting at the poles and more extreme weather
because of more convection in the hotter wetter atmosphere.


Is Global Warming Really Happening? - What's the Evidence?

Evidence is everywhere.

Of the eleven hottest years on record, ten have occurred since 2000.
2010, 2005 and 1998 have been the hottest years so far recorded,
followed by 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Glaciers (frozen rivers) and polar ice caps (North and South Poles)
are melting. Ice at the North Pole (Arctic) is melting rapidly.
The Arctic sea in the summer may be ice free within five years.
The Alps have lost 50% of their glaciers in the last century.

Greenland has the biggest ice sheet in the Northern Hemisphere.
It is melting at a rate of approximately 200 cubic kilometres per year.

70% of the world's fresh water exists as ice at the South Pole
(Antarctica). The average temperature of Antarctica is rising faster
than the rest of the planet, having increased by 3 °C since 1950.

back    Links    Environmental Issues    Revision Questions    next

gcsescience.com     Contents     The Periodic Table     Index     Quizzes    gcsescience.com

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Colin France. All Rights Reserved.