07-10-2014, 08:35 AM
The greenhouse effect is a warming of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere that tends to intensify with an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The greenhouse effect is the name applied to the process that causes the surface of the earth to be warmer than it would have been in the absence of an atmosphere.
The atmosphere allows a large percentage of the rays of visible light from the Sun to reach the earth's surface and heat it. A part of this energy is reradiated by the earth's surface in the form of long-wave infrared radiation, much of which is absorbed by molecules of carbon dioxide and water vapour in the atmosphere and which is reflected back to the surface as heat. This is roughly analogous to the effect produced by the glass panes of a greenhouse, which transmit sunlight in the visible range but hold in heat.
The greenhouse effect is the name applied to the process that causes the surface of the earth to be warmer than it would have been in the absence of an atmosphere.
The atmosphere allows a large percentage of the rays of visible light from the Sun to reach the earth's surface and heat it. A part of this energy is reradiated by the earth's surface in the form of long-wave infrared radiation, much of which is absorbed by molecules of carbon dioxide and water vapour in the atmosphere and which is reflected back to the surface as heat. This is roughly analogous to the effect produced by the glass panes of a greenhouse, which transmit sunlight in the visible range but hold in heat.