Why does carbon emissions trap heat in our atmosphere?

Question

I know that carbon emissions represent a very small percentage out of atmosphere composition so why does this single variable affect the temperature of our earth to such a large degree?

Answer 1

The heat entering our atmosphere is a different type of heat from that leaving our atmosphere.

Heat from the sun is solar radiation which has a very short wavelength and can pass through the atoms and molecules in our atmosphere unimpeded.

The heat that 'bounces' off Earth is thermal radiation and this has a longer wavelength which makes it more difficult to escape our atmosphere because it becomes trapped by the molecles of the greenhouse gases.

You're right when you say that CO2 emissions are a small percentage of our atmosphere but it doesn't take much to create a 'blanket' thick enough to trap heat.

In fact, if it weren't for the natural greenhouse effect our planet would be so cold it would be uninhabitable. Only about one fourtieth of one percent of all the gases in the atmosphere are greenhouse gases (268,970 parts per billion by volume or 0.026897%) so even a very small change as little as one thousandth of a percent is going to have a significant effect.

Answer 2

First, it's important to know that Carbon Dioxide is naturally a very small portion of the gases that compose the atmosphere. With industry, the concentration of Carbon dioxide has gone up, but CO2 is still a very small component of the atmosphere. Having said this, without CO2 or any other greenhouse gases, the earth's equilibrium temperature would be 0 degrees because the earth emits away radiation at the same rate it absorbs it. With small amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, the observed equilibrium temperature is around 50 degrees. If naturally occurring greenhouse gases can have that great of an effect on equilibrium temperature, the extra carbon we're emitting into the atmosphere is sure to have the same effect and hold in more of the heat that the earth emits away.

Answer 3

Sunlight enters out atmosphere and most of it bounces off the earth's surface and goes back out to space. However, with carbon emissions, the sunlight penetrates the atmosphere to reach the earth, but cannot escape to get back out to space as much so the temperature of the earth increases. I THINK.

Answer 4

the emissions go into our atmosphere, and the sun rays shine down onto earth and bounce off the earth and go back up toward space but the emissions are so think, its hard for the rays to escape. The rays can get in easy because its constant than when they bounce off the earth to escape.

Answer 5

The atmosphere is transparent to visible light from the sun and generally to infrared radiation as well, except for carbon dioxide. CO2 absorbs infrared, so it traps heat.