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2006-06-21 14:57:32 · 11 answers · asked by Jose J 1 in Environment

11 answers

people

2006-06-21 15:00:23 · answer #1 · answered by YourDreamDoc 7 · 1 4

The greenhouse effect on the large scale (the Earth), is caused in part by humans. As we burn fossil fuels, such as oil/petroleum, carbon diozide is released into the air. This then stops the heat that is already in Earth's atmosphere from leaving. This, along with the heat we are still getting from the sun, (which is also stopped from leaving) can increase temperatures over time. (you can always get a greenhouse if you don't believe it.)

2006-06-21 15:02:47 · answer #2 · answered by Riiken Ultima 2 · 0 0

There is still debate as to whether the green house effect is really happening or if it just a normal temperature increase that would happen no matter what.

2006-06-21 15:01:29 · answer #3 · answered by Lief Y 3 · 0 0

Gases in the atmosphere that trap heat. Without the greenhouse effect, we wouldn't be here. However, we don't want earth to be TOO warm. Water vapor is the most abundant natural gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide and methane are other examples.

2006-06-21 15:04:38 · answer #4 · answered by KansasSpice 4 · 0 0

The Earth's climate is constantly changing, and will change no matter what we do. We have very little impact on the worlds climate ourselves. The Earth is millions of years old and it doesn't have the same climate it started with and we have only been around for a few thousand years. People who think the Earth will always have the same climate it has today are sorely mistaken.

2006-06-21 15:04:14 · answer #5 · answered by chupakabra123 5 · 0 0

The build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere keeps reradiated heat which is at a longer wavelength, in the Earth just like how the walls of a greenhouse keep the heat in the greenhouse.

2006-06-21 15:01:57 · answer #6 · answered by j a 2 · 0 0

the green house affect is a theory but in theory the burning of fossil fuels is accumulating in the ozone layer and is making "a green house" of our earth... amazing what you can learn in an 8th grade science class isn't it ? lol

2006-06-21 15:43:52 · answer #7 · answered by tata_717 2 · 0 0

Flue gasses coming out of chimneys.

2006-06-21 18:02:05 · answer #8 · answered by rajeev@iitd 3 · 0 0

The greenhouse effect, first discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824, and first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896, is the process by which an atmosphere warms a planet. The name is from the similar effect which greenhouses utilize in order to facilitate plant growth.

In common parlance, the term greenhouse effect may be used to refer either to the natural greenhouse effect, which is the greenhouse effect which occurs naturally on Earth, or to the enhanced (anthropogenic) greenhouse effect, which results from gases emitted as a result of human activities (see also global warming). No-one disputes the former, or its magnitude; the latter is accepted by a large majority of scientists, although there is some dispute as to its magnitude (see scientific opinion on climate change and attribution of recent climate change).

The earth receives an enormous amount of solar radiation. Just above the atmosphere, the direct solar radiation flux averages about 1366 watts per square meter, or 1.740×1017 W after being distributed over the entire Earth. This figure greatly exceeds the power generated by human activities. The difference between the natural greenhouse effect and global warming is that global warming is anthropogenic whereas greenhouse effect is not.

The solar power hitting Earth is balanced over time by an equal amount of power radiating from the Earth (as the amount of energy from the Sun that is stored is small). Almost all radiation leaving the Earth takes two forms: reflected solar radiation and thermal black body radiation.

Solar radiation at top of atmosphere and at Earth's surface.Reflected solar radiation accounts for 30% of the Earth's total radiation: on average, 6% of the incoming solar radiation is reflected by the atmosphere, 20% is reflected by clouds, and 4% is reflected by the surface.

The remaining 70% of the incoming solar radiation is absorbed: 16% by the atmosphere (including the almost complete absorption of shortwave ultraviolet over most areas by the stratospheric ozone layer); 3% by clouds; and 51% by the land and oceans. This absorbed energy heats the atmosphere, oceans, and land and powers life on the planet. It should be noted that the surface of the Earth is in constant flux with daily, yearly and age long cycles and trends in temperature and other variables for a variety of causes; thus these percentages apply on average only.

Like the Sun, the Earth is a thermal radiator. Because the Earth's surface is much cooler than the Sun (287 K vs 5780 K), Wien's displacement law dictates that Earth radiates its thermal energy at longer wavelengths than the Sun. While the Sun's radiation peaks at a visible wavelength of 500 nanometers, Earth's radiation peak is in the longwave (far) infrared at about 10 micrometres.

Atmospheric absorption of various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation (measured along sea level).The Earth's atmosphere is largely transparent at visible and near-infrared wavelengths, but not at 10 micrometres (this is, probably, not entirely coincidental: the transparency to "visible" wavelengths makes eyes adapted to seeing these wavelengths useful; and eyes that could see in a strongly-absorbed wavelength would not be so useful). Only about 6% of the Earth's total radiation to space is direct thermal radiation from the surface. The atmosphere absorbs 71% of the surface thermal radiation before it can escape. The atmosphere itself behaves as a radiator in the far infrared, so it re-radiates this energy.

The Earth's atmosphere and clouds therefore account for 91.4% of its longwave infrared radiation and 64% of Earth's total emissions at all wavelengths. The atmosphere and clouds get this energy from the solar energy they directly absorb; thermal radiation from the surface; and from heat brought up by convection and the condensation of water vapor.

Because the atmosphere is such a good absorber of longwave infrared, it effectively forms a one-way blanket over Earth's surface. Visible and near-visible radiation from the Sun easily gets through, but thermal radiation from the surface can't easily get back out. In response, Earth's surface warms up. The power of the surface radiation increases by the Stefan-Boltzmann law until it (over time) compensates for the atmospheric absorption. Another, simpler, but essentially equivalent way of looking at this is that the surface is heated by two sources: direct solar radiation, and thermal radiation from the atmosphere; it is thus warmer than if heated by solar radiation alone. The result of the greenhouse effect is that average surface temperatures are considerably higher than they would otherwise be if the Earth's surface temperature were determined solely by the albedo and blackbody properties of the surface.

It is commonplace for simplistic descriptions of the "greenhouse" effect to assert that the same mechanism warms greenhouses (e.g. [1]), but this is an incorrect oversimplification: see below.

The above description (and many other simplified expositions of the greenhouse effect) may give the impression that radiation is the most important method for transmitting heat through the atmosphere. In the lower atmosphere, particularly in the tropics, convection and latent heat transport is very important in moving heat vertically upwards from the surface; the greenhouse effect dynamics described above do operate, but become important higher in the atmosphere.
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Have you ever seen a greenhouse? Most greenhouses look like a small glass house. Greenhouses are used to grow plants, especially in the winter. Greenhouses work by trapping heat from the sun. The glass panels of the greenhouse let in light but keep heat from escaping. This causes the greenhouse to heat up, much like the inside of a car parked in sunlight, and keeps the plants warm enough to live in the winter.

The Earth’s atmosphere is all around us. It is the air that we breathe. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere behave much like the glass panes in a greenhouse. Sunlight enters the Earth's atmosphere, passing through the blanket of greenhouse gases. As it reaches the Earth's surface, land, water, and biosphere absorb the sunlight’s energy. Once absorbed, this energy is sent back into the atmosphere. Some of the energy passes back into space, but much of it remains trapped in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases, causing our world to heat up.

The greenhouse effect is important. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth would not be warm enough for humans to live. But if the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, it could make the Earth warmer than usual. Even a little extra warming may cause problems for humans, plants, and animals.

2006-06-22 03:57:48 · answer #9 · answered by heidiinphilly 2 · 0 0

from burning fosil fuels

2006-06-21 15:02:27 · answer #10 · answered by saidabear 1 · 0 0

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