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Do you know what the half life of methane in the atmosphere is? I did a search for it but couldn't find it.



That's funny.

https://www.foodsource.org.uk/building-blocks/agricultural-m... claims

> it is a relatively short-lived GHG, with emissions breaking down after an average of around 10 years.

Looks like someone didn't understand what half-life means, or is being misleading.


On average, a molecule of methane breaks down in less than 10 years. That is a true interpretation.


Half life implies that one half of the mehane molecules decay in that period (or that a single one has a 50% of decaying).


Depends on what 'average' you mean I guess. It is true for the median of course. However, if the time for an individual molecule to decay is exponentially distributed, you can solve for lambda to find its expected lifetime is 13.1 years. That being said, I'd say this is a less useful interpretation.




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