How do 'ground hugging exhaust gases' cause the greenhouse effect?

MonkeyDoo · 30-04-2011 9:02pm #1

Was parked on the m50 and was looking at all the car exhausts. The exhaust gases seemed to come out drop towards the ground.

Car exhaust seemed heavier than air,probably because of all the carbon that comes out. There may be some gases that come out that are lighter than air they can't be seen of course.

Question is from observation these exhaust gases looked denser than air and tended to hug the ground.

So how do they travel up so high in the sky and cause the greenhouse effect?

Are there invisible lighter than air gases from the cars causing the problem.

I remember in school they always depicted the greenhouse gases as being really high up in the sky not low to the ground.

01-05-2011 10:11am

Well according to wikipedia, the output of a catalytic converter is:
O2
CO2
N2
H2O

O2 is 21% of the composition of air, so it should escape and diffuse into the air relatively evenly.
CO2 is only a very small part of air, and is heavier than the majority of the components of air, so it should sink to the ground and then gradually diffuse into the air, which means it will rise in a bit of time.
N2 is the main component of air, so should diffuse relatively evenly.
H2O is lighter than most of the components of air, and so should rise.

So what you're seeing is probably carbon dioxide, and will rise over time as it dissolves into the air.

How do 'ground hugging exhaust gases' cause the greenhouse effect?

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