02 Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Describe the greenhouse effect in terms of the interaction of short and long wavelength radiatic with matter.

Question

Question

02 Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Describe the greenhouse effect in terms of the interaction of short and long wavelength radiatic with matter.

Answer 1

The greenhouse effect undergoes where incoming high-energy shortwave rays—mostly visibility and ultraviolet—of sunlight come into Earth's surroundings unnoticed and reach the planet's surface. The earth ingests this high-energy apparent light from the sun and warms up. The Earth then reissues this attentiveness as long, low-power waves of infrared radiation. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are caught up primarily in infrared range and absorb these long-wavelength radiations, trap heat, and consequently reemit some portion of it, of which some is directed back towards Earth. This whole curs well up to introduce to whatever we call 'the greenhouse effect' and supports the bio sphere remain warm, to persist and thrive life as we understand it.

Answer 2

## Step1: The greenhouse effect begins when sunlight, possessing short-wave radiation, penetrates the Earth's atmosphere and strikes its surface. Short wavelength radiation, such as visible light or ultraviolet light, essentially bypasses molecules in the atmosphere due to its energy characteristics and short distance between wave peaks. This shorter radiation length is not readily absorbed or scattered by atmospheric particles or air molecules. It’s worth mentioning that visible sunlight accounts for some heating, but the majority of Earth’s heat comes from the other shortwave solar radiation that our eyes can’t detect, such as ultraviolet. ## Step2: Upon hitting the surface, much of this shortwave radiation is absorbed and transformed into thermal energy—this process heats up our planet’s surface. Afterward, the Earth, behaving similar to a large black body radiator, reemits absorbed energy back into the atmosphere as longwave, or infrared, radiation. It is essential to understand that the Earth’s surface temperature determines the frequency and intensity of this Infrared radiation. ## Step3: So this is where the greenhouse effect comes into play. As the reemitted energy now in form of Infrared radiation begins rising, it encounters greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO_2), water vapor (H_2O), methane (CH_4), and nitrous oxide (N_2O). At this point, an important property of greenhouse gases becomes relevant—they possess complex internal structures (such as having three or more atoms per molecule) that allow them to vibrate in ways that simple two-atom molecules cannot. Generally, the emitted infrared energy from the Earth’s surface syncs with identifiable absorption bands of these gases. ## Step4: As such, these greenhouse gases absorb this long-wavelength radiation, trap its heat, and subsequently emit it. Some of this heat is directed back to Earth, inadvertently raising the total amount of heat retained by the planet. Thus, the greenhouse gases enveloping the Earth act as an insulating blanket, allowing our planet to maintain amount of heat regulated enough to sustain life.

Question

02 Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Describe the greenhouse effect in terms of the interaction of short and long wavelength radiatic with matter.

Answer

Answer

Explain

Hot Questions