[8] SF6 has 23,500 times greater global warming potential (GWP) than CO2 as a greenhouse gas (over a 100-year time-frame) but exists in relatively minor concentrations in the atmosphere.

[9] The increase since 1980 is driven in large part by the expanding electric power sector, including fugitive emissions from banks of SF6 gas contained in its medium- and high-voltage switchgear.

Some other sulfur fluorides are cogenerated, but these are removed by heating the mixture to disproportionate any S2F10 (which is highly toxic) and then scrubbing the product with NaOH to destroy remaining SF4.

[clarification needed] Alternatively, using bromine, sulfur hexafluoride can be synthesized from SF4 and CoF3 at lower temperatures (e.g. 100 °C), as follows:[13] There is virtually no reaction chemistry for SF6.

This makes GIS more suitable for certain purposes such as indoor placement, as opposed to air-insulated electrical gear, which takes up considerably more room.

Exposure to an arc chemically breaks down SF6 though most of the decomposition products tend to quickly re-form SF6, a process termed "self-healing".

S2F10 was considered a potential chemical warfare agent in World War II because it does not produce lacrimation or skin irritation, thus providing little warning of exposure.

[20][21] Compact GIS technology that combines vacuum switching with clean air insulation has been introduced for a subset of applications up to 420 kV.

[24] The bubble initially doubles its volume in 36 hours due to oxygen and nitrogen entering it, before being absorbed in the blood in 10–14 days.

[27] Sulfur hexafluoride was the tracer gas used in the first roadway air dispersion model calibration; this research program was sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and conducted in Sunnyvale, California on U.S. Highway 101.

[28] Gaseous SF6 is used as a tracer gas in short-term experiments of ventilation efficiency in buildings and indoor enclosures, and for determining infiltration rates.

Sulfur hexafluoride was used as a non-toxic test gas in an experiment at St John's Wood tube station in London, United Kingdom on 25 March 2007.

The purpose of the experiment, which had been announced earlier in March by the Secretary of State for Transport Douglas Alexander, was to investigate how toxic gas might spread throughout London Underground stations and buildings during a terrorist attack.

[30] The concentration of sulfur hexafluoride in seawater (typically on the order of femtomoles per kilogram[31]) has been classified by the international oceanography community as a "level one" measurement, denoting the highest priority data for observing ocean changes.

[9][47] Average global SF6 concentrations increased by about 7% per year during the 1980s and 1990s, mostly as the result of its use in magnesium production, and by electrical utilities and electronics manufacturers.