What is the correct order of the Global Warming Potential of the following atmospheric chemical species, from lowest to highest?

1.Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)

2.Methane (CH4)

3.Carbon dioxide (CO2)

4.Nitrous oxide (N2O)

A1, 2, 4, 3

B3, 2, 4, 1 ✓ Correct

C3, 4, 2, 1

D1, 4, 3, 2

Correct answer: (B) 3, 2, 4, 1

Explanation

Carbon dioxide is the reference gas with the lowest global warming potential, set at a value of one.

Methane traps far more heat per molecule, with a potential many times that of carbon dioxide.

Nitrous oxide is stronger still, near three hundred times carbon dioxide over a century.

Chlorofluorocarbons have the highest potential of the four, thousands of times that of carbon dioxide.

The rising order is thus carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, then the chlorofluorocarbon.

Global warming potential compares heat trapping to carbon dioxide over a fixed time horizon.

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