Greenhouse Effect

Also called

greenhouse gases · global warming · carbon dioxide · methane · water vapour · infrared radiation · heat trapped by the atmosphere · climate change · enhanced greenhouse effect · Venus Earth Mars temperature · average temperature of Earth · solar radiation · ग्रीनहाउस प्रभाव · वैश्विक तापन · ग्रीनहाउस गैस

Topics

• Sunlight passes through the atmosphere and warms the ground; the warm ground radiates energy back as infrared.
• Greenhouse gases such as CO₂, methane (CH₄) and water vapour absorb infrared and send some of it back down.
• This natural greenhouse effect keeps Earth about 33 °C warmer: around 15 °C instead of −18 °C.
• Without it, water on Earth would freeze and life as we know it could not exist.
• Burning fossil fuels, cutting forests, cattle and paddy fields add extra CO₂ and CH₄ to the air.
• More greenhouse gas traps more infrared, so the average temperature rises: this is global warming.
• Venus has a thick CO₂ atmosphere and a surface near 460 °C; Mars has a thin one and is far colder.
• Rising temperatures melt polar ice, raise sea levels and change rainfall patterns.

About this model

A GLB file of about 346 KB, shown in Lably's 3D viewer and, on a phone, placed in your room with AR. Credit: Model, science and animation: Lably (built procedurally with three.js; no downloaded meshes). | CC BY 4.0. Original geometry and animation made for Lably.

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