Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How a greenhouse holds heat
The glazing lets sunlight in and then keeps the warmed air from simply rising away.
When the purchase is complete, return to the original window. It will refresh.
From the opening
A greenhouse holds heat because sunlight comes through the glazing and warms the interior, and the closed shell then makes that heat slow to leave. Warm air cannot rise away into the sky, and the glass also gets in the way of much of the infrared the warm surfaces radiate. The opening covers sunlight in, warm air held, what opening a vent changes, and infrared is only part of the lid.
The rest of the brief — the later sections and the reading notes — opens after Stripe confirms payment.
Inside
- Sunlight in, warm air held
- What opening a vent changes
- Infrared is only part of the lid
- Why a closed car does it too
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Suppression of convective loss by glazing
- Robert Wood on the glass greenhouse