The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the Sun’s heat. This process makes Earth much warmer than it would be without an atmosphere. Keep reading to know more about the importance and working of the greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, and the factors causing global warming.
Table of Contents
What Is The Greenhouse effect?
It is a building with glass walls and a glass roof. The clear glass allows the sunlight to shine into the green house, while also trapping the Sun’s heat inside. This is how a greenhouse keeps plants warm, even at night and in the winter.
What Are Greenhouse Gases?
Greenhouse gases contribute to the greenhouse effect by trapping heat in them. There are lots of gases that make up the earth’s atmosphere. Some of these gases are Carbon dioxide, Methane and Nitrous oxide. These three gases are called greenhouse gases.
Greenhouse gases form a layer around the earth that acts as a sort of light blanket. When the sun’s rays are shined onto the earth, some of these rays are absorbed by the earth. however, most of these rays are reflected back into the atmosphere. When these rays hit the upper atmosphere, the greenhouse gases traps most of the heat from these rays. Some of the rays, still pass through and go back into space. The rays which are caught by greenhouse gases spread through the atmosphere in every direction around the earth. This of course keeps our earth nice and warm. If the sun’s rays and heat are not trapped by the greenhouse gases, the earth would not be kept warm. In fact, it would cause our earth to be much cooler, on average -18 degrees Celcius.
Why is the Greenhouse Effect Important?
The greenhouse effect keeps the earth warm in pretty much the same way as man-made greenhouse buildings. Earth is not surrounded by glass, but it is surrounded by a jacket of gases called the atmosphere. In the daytime, the Sun shines through the atmosphere, warming Earth’s surface. After the sun goes down, the Earth’s surface cools. This releases heat back into the air. But some of the heat is trapped by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
This phenomenon helps us to grow things like tomatoes (out of season) that’s because its nice and warm inside the structure. The sunlight enters and visible light penetrates the glass. The plants in the soil partly absorb this and partly reflected on the outside have invisible heat radiation. As a result, temperature rise inside the greenhouse.
The planet earth obtains warmth in a similar fashion which is fortunate because otherwise, we could not survive. Without the natural atmospheric temperatures on our planet would be around -18 degree Celcius and not the average 15 degrees Celcius above freezing. Sunlight penetrates the gas layer of the atmosphere. It’s partly absorbed and partly reflected just like in a greenhouse. Small particles in the air ensure that a percentage of the reflected radiation is sent back to earth.
5 Main Causes Of Global Warming
- Burning fossil fuels
- Deforestation
- Amount of methane produced by livestock.
- Production of Aerosols
- Land-use change
Burning Of Fossil Fuels
Earth needs a balance of greenhouse gases to maintain just the right temperature for living things. But some human activities are changing Earth’s natural greenhouse effect. For example, burning fossil fuels like coal and oil releases more Carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
These extra gases can cause the atmosphere to trap more and more heat, leading to a warmer earth. NASA satellites are constantly measuring the gases in our atmosphere from space. They have observed an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases.
Factors Causing Global warming
Humans are affecting the greenhouse effect in negative ways. We are producing far too many harmful gases. All of the smoke generated from burning fossil fuels has a lot of methane and carbon dioxide which is drastically increasing the amount of greenhouse gases.
Furthermore, trees and plants breathe in carbon dioxide, reducing its amount from our atmosphere and keeping a balance of greenhouse gases. However, humans are cutting down more and more trees so there are fewer plants to absorb carbon dioxide but an increasing population with increasing energy consumption, more cars and more factories are creating these gases.
As the greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, they create a much thicker layer. As the sun shines, its rays strike the earth surface. These rays cannot escape the thick layer of gases after reflection back from the earth surface. Before some of the rays would go back into space whereas now the greenhouse gases are trapping more and more rays. Temperatures are increasing worldwide. Earth is getting warmer and warmer, we call this global warming.
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Related Topics
Carbon Footprint And Carbon Emissions
Room Temperature| Comfortable Temperature
Radiation absorbing gases
What is Auxiliary Heat?
Bottom Line
This article explains the definition and working of the greenhouse effect along with the factors involved in global warming. We hope that after reading the article, you will be able to understand the critical nature of greenhouse gases and their role in global warming. If you have any questions regarding this topic, feel free to post a comment.
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