What are some examples of the most common greenhouse gases?

The most common greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. It also happens to be the weakest that I know of, but since it's present in the largest quantity it dominates. Methane is the other major, naturally-occurring greenhouse gas. read more

Those are the three most common. There are other greenhouse gases, some of them (like halocarbon refrigerants) thousands of times stronger than the three major natural ones. But they’re only present in tiny trace amounts. read more

Greenhouse gases absorb and emit some of the outgoing energy radiated from Earth's surface, causing that heat to be retained in the lower atmosphere. As explained above, some greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for decades or even centuries, and therefore can affect Earth's energy balance over a long period. read more

In general, fluorinated gases are the most potent and longest lasting type of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities. There are four main categories of fluorinated gases — hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF 3). read more