Final answer:
The gas component that is found in much larger amounts in exhaled breath compared to inhaled breath is Carbon Dioxide (CO2), due to respiratory gas exchange in the lungs.
Step-by-step explanation:
The component of the air that makes up approximately 100 times more of an exhaled breath than of an inhaled breath is Carbon Dioxide (CO2). When we breathe in (inhale), we take in air that contains about 0.04 percent carbon dioxide. However, when we exhale, the breath we exhale contains about 5.2 percent of carbon dioxide, which is significantly higher due to the gas exchange that occurs in the lungs where carbon dioxide is a waste product of respiration and is removed from the bloodstream.
Atmospheric air is primarily composed of nitrogen (N₂; 78.6 percent) and oxygen (O₂; 20.9 percent), with water vapor (H₂O; 0.5 percent) and carbon dioxide (CO₂; 0.04 percent) in smaller quantities. The respiratory system humidifies incoming air, which increases the water vapor content, and alters the composition of gasses during the process of gas exchange, specifically increasing carbon dioxide and decreasing oxygen levels in alveolar air compared to atmospheric air.