A colorless odorless gas used as a fuel.
CH4 the simplest hydrocarbon of the paraffin series. Colorless, odorless, and lighter than air, it burns with a bluish flame and explodes when mixed with air or oxygen. It is the chief constituent of natural gas and also occurs in the explosive firedamp of coal mines. Methane emitted by rotting vegetation forms marsh gas, which may ignite by spontaneous combustion to produce the pale flame seen over marshland and known as will-o’-the-wisp.
Methane causes about 38% of the warming of the globe through the greenhouse effect; weight for weight it is 60–70 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping solar radiation in the atmosphere and so heating the planet. The amount of methane in the air is predicted to double over the next 60 years. An estimated 15% of all methane gas into the atmosphere is produced by cows and other cud-chewing animals. + prikaži više