Greenhouse

Greenhouse

The Natural Greenhouse Effect

Atmosphere

Our atmosphere is made up of several gases

These gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.

These gases help to trap in heat and keep the Earth warm.

Gases

Water vapor occurs naturally as part of the water cycle.

Carbon dioxide occurs naturally when plants and animals undergo cellular respiration.

Gases

Nitrous oxide occurs naturally when plants decompose and rot.

Ozone occurs naturally and helps protect us from harmful UV radiation from the sun.

Methane occurs naturally when cattle digest their food and from certain plants like rice.

Cow Farts!

How does it work?

The Sun sends energy to Earth in the form of light.

Some of that energy is reflected back into space.

The rest reaches Earth’s surface and changes to heat.

The heat is trapped by the Earth’s atmosphere.

This heat helps to regulate the temperature of Earth.

How does it work?

How does it work?

The atmosphere helps to keep the Earth warm even at night when we are not receiving sunlight.

The difference in temperature on Earth between day and night is usually only about 10 degrees.

By comparison, the moon (which is about the same distance from the sun that we are) has great difference between its temperature during the day and night.

This difference can be up to 100 degrees.

Where did the name come from?

We call this the greenhouse effect because it acts similar to the way human-built greenhouses work.

The glass of the greenhouse is designed to allow light in and trap the resulting heat in order to grow plants out of season.

The atmosphere works much the same way the glass of a greenhouse works.

Climate Change

If the balance of gases in our atmosphere is changed, this can result in climate change.

Burning fossil fuels puts extra carbon dioxide into the air which throws off the balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

This traps in too much heat inside our atmosphere and is a major contributor to climate change

Climate Change