Question

Explain how does greenhouse effect cause global warming.

Answer 1

Since the earth’s surface is heated by the sunlight, it radiates a part of this energy back to the space as longer Infrared wavelengths and some of the heat gets trapped by CFCs and water vapours present in the atmosphere. They absorb IR radiations and block a large portion of earth’s emitted radiations. This radiation, absorbed, is partly remitted to the earth’s surface. Therefore, the earth’s surface gets heated up by the phenomenon called greenhouse effect. Thus, the greenhouse effect is defined as the heating up of the earth’s surface due to trapping of infrared radiations reflected by the earth's surface by the carbon dioxide layer in the atmosphere. So, the heating up of the earth through the greenhouse effect is called global warming.