Question

how does the burning of fossil fuels contribute to global warming? burning fossil fuels introduces carbon dioxide to parts of the atmosphere that never had it, burning fossil fuels adds greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, burning fossil fuels removes oxygen and other gases from the atmosphere, burning fossil fuels removes carbon dioxide and other gases from the atmosphere

Answer 1

Correct answer: burning fossil fuels adds greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Why: combustion of coal, oil and natural gas releases carbon that was stored underground as CO2 into the atmosphere. Higher atmospheric CO2 (and other greenhouse gases emitted with fossil fuel use, such as methane and nitrous oxide) strengthens the greenhouse effect: these gases absorb and re‑emit infrared radiation from Earth, trapping more heat and raising global temperatures.

Notes on the other choices:
- CO2 already existed in the atmosphere before fossil fuel burning; burning doesn’t put it into “parts that never had it.”
- Burning does consume some oxygen, but the change in atmospheric O2 is tiny and not the cause of global warming.
- Burning adds CO2, it does not remove it.