A mysterious uptick in atmospheric methane (CH4) was first detected 15 years ago. Of major concern, CH4 is a potent greenhouse gas that’s ~80 times greater than CO2. It’s like a turbo-charged ...

As far as greenhouse gases go, methane — whose molecular makeup is one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen, or CH4 — stays in the atmosphere for a shorter period of time but traps more heat.

Thursday, 20 March 2008 Will Dunham Reuters The extrasolar planet HD 189733b has the organic molecule methane in its atmosphere. But conditions are too harsh there for life to form.

Methane is significant for at least a couple of reasons. Each molecule of CH4 is about 30 times more potent in warming the planet than one molecule of CO2 in 100 years. However, in the first 20 years ...

Methane is a gas close gasOne of the three states of matter. Gases, like oxygen or helium, do not have a fixed shape and can expand to fill their container. . One molecule close moleculeTwo or ...