Just Basically What Is It Doing To The World. And The Effects.
=S
Thank Yuu
Kt <33 x
2007-01-27 05:56:30 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Hello, this is an interesting question that is poorly understood by most people. Glass is transparent to visible light, but opaque to infrared light (heat rays). This causes your car to heat up to ungodly temperatures in the daytime in the summer, because sunlight zooms right through your car windows, strikes something inside your car and is absorbed, and then re-radiates as heat (infra-red), but this infra-red light can't get back out of your car very easily, so your car really heats up.
This heating up effect is called the greenhouse effect, because plant growers have long benefited from this phenomenon to grow tender greenhouse plants in cold climates. It also happens to planets, except that there is no glass, and "greenhouse gasses" perform the work that the glass would do in a normal greenhouse. There is already a definite and pronounced greenhouse effect present on the Earth, since the black body whole earth temperature of the Earth would be about -10 C were it not for the greenhouse effect, which has brought it up to the current whole Earth temperature of 20 C (or 68 F), which all would agree is much nicer than -10 C.
So what is a greenhouse gas, anyway? It is any gas molecule that contains 3 or more atoms, and the more the better. This is because all gas molecules that contain 3 or more atoms will absorb heavily in the infra-red (heat ray) part of the spectrum. One atom molecules like Argon, and 2 atom molecules like Oxygen and Nitrogen are not greenhouse gasses, because they do not have 3 or more atoms and they do not absorb in the infra-red. So what are the major greenhouse gasses in the Earth's atmosphere? The most major one of all is water vapour, or H2O. The second most important one is carbon dioxide, or CO2, and other greenhouse gasses of the Earth include methane (CH4), Ammonia (NH3), Ozone (O3), and man-made CFC's such as Freon.
The trouble comes when we humans dig up carbon containing fossil substances in huge quantities and then set them on fire, such as coal, oil, & natural gas. This slowly increases the CO2 level in our atmosphere, which all agree will cause more heat to be retained by our planet than before. However, the amount of this man derived heating is controversial, since it is also clear that our climate passes through major temperature fluctuations on its own, and everyone agrees that we are still in the process of warming up from the last ice age. So sorting out what warming is natural and what warming is man-caused is the controversy. Some people think it is all the fault of humans madly setting things on fire, but I take a more moderate view. Some human caused warming is undeniable, but the majority is natural, in my humble opinion. Anyway, cutting off all fossil fuel burning would throw the world into the stone age, with mass starvation and famine and billions of lives lost. But we may be able to cut back a little, and I agree with this, to the extent that it does not harm jobs or employment. I personally look forward to the day when we humans get most of our energy from thermonuclear fusion, and we totally leave the Earth, and spread out across first the solar system, and then the galaxy. The Earth could then return to its natural state, free from interstate highways and oil refineries and the like. Wouldn't that be great? I think so.
2007-01-27 06:02:38 · answer #1 · answered by Sciencenut 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Greenhouse gases are like cholesterol. Gotta maintain an acceptable level. We're way too far overloaded on greenhouse gases.
2016-05-24 05:48:58 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No one really knows. They have made doom and gloom predictions for over 60 years. None have came to pass. There is no doubt that the earth's climate is, does, and has changed over time. The reasons for the change are unclear. Politicians use "global warming" as scare tactics to push certain agendas. It is difficult to say what the facts are on the issue.
2007-01-27 06:09:10 · answer #3 · answered by tmarschall 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are having problems with gases in your greenhouse why not get automatic window openers or just leave the door open
2007-01-27 07:41:51 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You want to learn about the `Green-house effect`. I recommend this site: http://www.so.wust.edu/science The ozone depletion process.
2007-01-27 06:10:52 · answer #5 · answered by CLIVE C 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋