CF₃SF₅ - a 'super' greenhouse gas

Over the past seven years the importance of greenhouse gases and global warming has leapt from obscurity to the top of the political agenda in all developed countries, culminating in the Stern report in November 2006 when the economic consequences of unchecked global warming were spelt out. Here we review the science of the greenhouse effect - or, more accurately, radiation trapping - and describe what constitutes a serious greenhouse gas, taking CF₃SF₅ as a case study.