Science · 6 pages · 12 min
Why the real greenhouse effect is about infrared
The air lets sunlight down and absorbs infrared the surface sends back up.
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From the opening
The real greenhouse effect is about infrared because the ground absorbs sunlight and cools by radiating infrared, and some gases absorb that infrared and send part of it back down. The surface then runs warmer than it would if the infrared escaped straight to space. The opening covers sunlight down, infrared going up, which gases actually absorb, and why the glass house is a weak analogy.
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Inside
- Sunlight down, infrared going up
- Which gases actually absorb
- Why the glass house is a weak analogy
- A warmer surface, same energy out
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Infrared absorption by carbon dioxide and water vapor
- Tyndall measurements of the radiative greenhouse effect