Do nitrogen and oxygen absorb more heat than carbon dioxide and water?

Answer 1

It looks like it does not. The specific heat (cp) of oxygen is 0.918 J/(g*K). I do not find this number freely published for ozone, but the gas constant (0.173 J/(g*K)) and cp/cv ratio (1.29) are, and they indicate ozone should have a cp value of 0.770 J/(g*K). So it appears that ozone absorbs about 16% less heat than oxygen to get the same temperature rise, on a mass basis. What ozone does do, is radiate heat in the far infrared... which oxygen cannot do. So heat can be transferred from locally placed oxygen, and the ozone can radiate that heat away.

Answer 2

No, nitrogen and oxygen, the main gasses in the atmosphere that together make up over 99% of the atmosphere, absorb virtually no heat.

"Two atom molecules like nitrogen and oxygen are bound together too tightly to be capable of vibrating when exposed to infrared radiation (heat) and therefore absorb that energy. Three atom molecules like carbon dioxide and water are able to vibrate and absorb this radiant heat energy in the form of kinetic energy and then pass that kinetic energy to other adjacent molecules of greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and water, causing those particles to warm.

"Although carbon dioxide and water together account for only about 1% of the earth's atmosphere, they account for almost all of the heat that is absorbed by the atmosphere to keep the planet warm."Heat is transferred and absorbed in several ways, and no substance is immune to being heated, which means that all gases absorb heat. In the earth's atmosphere, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon (>99% of atmospheric gases) absorb more heat than the tiny amount of CO2 and water vapor.

Second Answer:

Heat consists of vibrating and colliding molecules. The motion of these molecules jostles their electrons around, and this emits light. Heat and light are thus strongly related, but they aren't the same. For instance, heat can't actually be radiated; only the light that heat brings about can. By the same token, light itself has no temperature because temperature is an index of molecular motion, and a beam of light isn't composed of molecules. In short, "heat" can be regarded as molecular excitement and light as electromagnetic excitement.
Heated masses always emit light (infrared). Always. That's a direct consequence of molecules in motion. And while it's true that some substances may be transparent to infrared light, it doesn't follow that they can't be heated or, if heated, might not emit infrared.

There are three ways for heat (better to say thermal energy) to move from one zone to another: by conduction, convection, and radiation. Conductive heat transfer involves direct contact, wherein vibrations spread from molecule to molecule. Convective transfer involves a mass in motion: expanded by heat, a fluid is pushed up and away by the denser fluid that surrounds it. Radiative transfer arises when molecules intercept the light that warmer molecules are emitting, which brings about a resonant molecular vibration -- i.e., heating.
By selective context and vagueness, then, NASA paints an impression that only light-absorbing substances can be heated. Thus, since nitrogen and oxygen don't respond to infrared, NASA feels justified to say that "only some gases have the unique property of being able to absorb heat."

The Climate Change movement fixates on the 1% of the atmosphere that can be heated by radiant transfer instead of the 99% and more that is heated by direct contact with the earth's surface and then by convection. If they made it clear that every species of atmospheric gas gets heated mainly by conductive transfer, and that all heated bodies radiate light, then even a child could connect the dots: "Oh. So the whole atmosphere radiates heat to the earth and makes it warmer. All of the atmosphere is a greenhouse gas."

Answer 3

Nope. It absorbs ultraviolet rays from the sun. Ozone is capable of absorbing infrared radiation coming from the planet and releases it during the evening hours. It is a greenhouse gas.

The ozone in the layer around the atmosphere absorbs the UV rays from the sun, some absorbed, some scattered away, the infrared heat is emitted FROM the earth surface not the sun.

Answer 4

Ozone (or any compound for that matter) has electronic bonds. Electronic bonds are really standing waves with a particular frequency and energy. These bond have an near infinite number of energy states that they can 'jump' between dependent on the energy supplied to them. As these energy states are quantized only very discrete frequencies of energy can activate them. Ozone therefore absorbs light in discrete portions of the UV portion of the spectrum -- those that correspond to the same energy as the energy of the bond.

How the molecule then re-radiates the energy away at lower frequencies --- is another question.

Answer 5

No, nitrogen and oxygen, the main gasses in the atmosphere that together make up over 99% of the atmosphere, absorb virtually no heat.

Two atom molecules like nitrogen and oxygen are bound together too tightly to be capable of vibrating when exposed to infrared radiation (heat) and therefore absorb that energy. Three atom molecules like carbon dioxide and water are able to vibrate and absorb this radiant heat energy in the form of kinetic energy and then pass that kinetic energy to other adjacent molecules of greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and water, causing those particles to warm.

Although carbon dioxide and water together account for only about 1% of the earth's atmosphere, they account for almost all of the heat that is absorbed by the atmosphere to keep the planet warm."Heat is transferred and absorbed in several ways, and no substance is immune to being heated, which means that all gases absorb heat. In the earth's atmosphere, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon (>99% of atmospheric gases) absorb more heat than the tiny amount of CO2 and water vapor.

See the related question

"Why do carbon dioxide and water cause the greenhouse effect whereas nitrogen and oxygen do not?"

Answer 6

yes.

Answer 7

yes it does