It is a physical fact that heat cannot be destroyed, it can only be moved from one place to another. In our modern society we undoubtably create much more heat then we created in the past from cars, planes, electricity, heaters, etc.... Where does all that heat go? And if all that heat has been created and supposedly held in by the greenhouse effect, why isnt it 20 or 30 degrees hotter instead of just a half a degree? Explain that one to me.
2007-10-15 12:09:25 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Environment ➔ Global Warming
Heat energy is converted to other forms of energy. It takes a lot of heat energy to force water to become vapor.
These two links will provide you with some information about the greenhouse effect and about carbon emissions.
Everyone should check them out they are great animations about the topic.
2007-10-15 13:48:19 · answer #1 · answered by smaccas 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The green house effect of the atmosphere is not a sealed tight container. When more co2 is released into the atmosphere the green house effect, increases in heat reflecting ability. So think of it as adding storm windows, when you turn off the heat in the house the storm windows will help keep the place warmer for a little while longer, but eventually all the heat will radiate out of the house. The same is true for the planet, what we are doing is slowing down the amount of time it takes to radiate heat back to space.
2007-10-15 12:20:32 · answer #2 · answered by Kelly L 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Remember that heat is always being transfered from a hot source to a cold source, so the heat that does not get converted into kinetic energy (wind, waves.. etc) gets radiated into space. The upper troposphere is always well below the freezing temperature of water, so there is always a cold place for heat to go at the top of the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect just slows the heat down on it's way up.
2007-10-15 12:40:20 · answer #3 · answered by Tomcat 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
heat in atmosphere has jack squat to do with global warming its all the green house affect which is why man kind is tryin to move on to solar cars.I think humans mess everything up we do waaaaaay more harm than good
2007-10-15 14:52:00 · answer #4 · answered by Beboperson 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
The Sun creates most of the heat.
Greenhouse gases prevent a bit of that heat escaping from Earth. Like being under the covers. Mostly water vapor, and that makes the Earth habitable.
Increased CO2 from Man is holding just a bit more in. Which is why it's only about a degree so far.
When it gets to 2-3 degrees the changes will be unpleasant and expensive to deal with.
2007-10-15 12:22:14 · answer #5 · answered by Bob 7 · 6⤊ 7⤋
You're talking about Direct Heat, this is a miniscule amount of heat when compared to that we receive from the sun. It all forms part of Earth's Energy Budget.
Solar radiation accounts for 99.97% of all the heat we receive, in terms of Wattage it's 176 petaWatts. Direct heating accounts for 0.014% of all the heat we receive or 27 teraWatts.
The actual amount of heat received is measured across a plane perpendicular to the earth's surface or atmopshere and is measured in Watts per sqaure metre per year.
The solar constant is 1366 Wm²yr or which 340 Wm²yr actually reaches us, the contribution made from direct heating is 0.05 Wm²yr.
2007-10-15 12:21:57 · answer #6 · answered by Trevor 7 · 5⤊ 7⤋