answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

The greenhouse gases hold the heat. This heat warms the atmosphere around and also back down to the surface of the earth. As more fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) are burnt, more greenhouse gases are emitted and the atmosphere gets warmer. This is called global warming, which is causing climate change.

User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar
More answers
User Avatar

Wiki User

6y ago

Infrared radiation rising from the warm earth hits the greenhouse gas molecules. They become agitated (they have at least three atoms each), and they absorb the heat rising up. This heat is then radiated out in all directions, raising the temperature of the atmosphere.

This is called the greenhouse effect.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

9y ago

Infrared radiation is the heat rising from the earth and ocean. Gases in the atmosphere with more than two atoms can trap this rising heat and hold it. These are called greenhouse gases, and the most common are carbon dioxide and methane. The way these gases trap the heat is called the greenhouse effect.

This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: What happens when the sun's heat warms the earth and the infrared radiation goes up into the atmosphere and is trapped by the greenhouse gases?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Continue Learning about Earth Science

What happens to the sun's heat in the greenhouse effect?

The sun's heat (ultraviolet radiation) warms the surface of the earth.Heat rises (infrared radiation) rises from the warm earth.Much of this heat is captured by greenhouse gases which become warm.This warmth makes the surrounding atmosphere warm.It also warms the surface of the earth even further.


What happens to the radiation that earth reemits?

It can go out to space, or it can be trapped by various gases in the atmosphere, i.e., greenhouse gases such as CO2 and water vapor.


How do greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun?

Greenhouse gases absorb infrared electromagnetic radiation. As sunlight (mostly UV and visible light) heats the earth, longer wavelengths are radiated or emitted, i.e infrared light. Infrared active molecules, such as carbon dioxide and methane, absorb infrared light causing these molecules to vibrate. High concentrations of these vibrating molecules in the gaseous atmosphere provides for energy transfer (kinetic) due to vibrational collision. Because temperature is simply a measure of kinetic energy in matter, an increase in vibrational energy of gaseous molecules results in a rise in air temperature. The global result is an increase in measured average ambient temperatures.


The process by which gases hold heat in the atmosphere is called the what?

The Greenhouse Effect. It happens when Greenhouse Gases (CO2) thicken the atmosphere and trap heat.


Where does the greenhouse effect happen?

The greenhouse effect happens all over the world because it takes place in the atmosphere.

Related questions

What happens as the sun's heat warms the earth's surface?

The heat rises in the form of infrared radiation, which is easily captured by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.


What happens to the size of the waves when reflected in the greenhouse effect?

Visible light radiation comes to us from the sun in the form of short wave ultraviolet light. This warms the surface of the earth. This warmth rises into the atmosphere in the form of infrared, long wave radiation, where it is captured by greenhouse gases in the greenhouse effect.


What happens to the infrared radiation that earth emit to the atmosphere?

Much of it is captured by the greenhouse gases, which hold the heat and prevent it escaping into space. As we add more and more greenhouse gases, they are able to hold more heat. This is how we are causing global warming.


How does the greenhouse effect happens?

The Greenhouse effect happens when the sun's radiation gets trapped in Earth's atmosphere. The gases rise up and sink back and forth causing, what we call, Global Warming.A:The greenhouse effect happens due to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere such as H2O and CO2. they start trapping more infrared radiations than average which leads to the increase in earth's temperature. The natural greenhouse effect is beneficial to the planet. The enhanced greenhouse effect is caused by additional greenhouse gases and that is what is causing global warming.


What happens to the sun's heat in the greenhouse effect?

The sun's heat (ultraviolet radiation) warms the surface of the earth.Heat rises (infrared radiation) rises from the warm earth.Much of this heat is captured by greenhouse gases which become warm.This warmth makes the surrounding atmosphere warm.It also warms the surface of the earth even further.


What happens to sunlight hits earth surface?

It gets absorbed by the surface, reflected, and even radiated back as infrared rays where it is absorbed by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.


What happens to the radiation that earth reemits?

It can go out to space, or it can be trapped by various gases in the atmosphere, i.e., greenhouse gases such as CO2 and water vapor.


How do greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun?

Greenhouse gases absorb infrared electromagnetic radiation. As sunlight (mostly UV and visible light) heats the earth, longer wavelengths are radiated or emitted, i.e infrared light. Infrared active molecules, such as carbon dioxide and methane, absorb infrared light causing these molecules to vibrate. High concentrations of these vibrating molecules in the gaseous atmosphere provides for energy transfer (kinetic) due to vibrational collision. Because temperature is simply a measure of kinetic energy in matter, an increase in vibrational energy of gaseous molecules results in a rise in air temperature. The global result is an increase in measured average ambient temperatures.


Why is Earth's atmosphere mainly heated from the ground up?

Solar radiation mostly passes through the atmosphere without heating it, due to its wavelength. It does not pass through the ground, however, and it heats the ground. The ground emits radiation at a wavelength dependent on its temperature. This radiation happens to be in the thermal infrared part of the spectrum, or in other words, sensible heat. Therefore, the atmosphere is heated by the surface, whereupon the heat tends to rise and heat the lower atmosphere.


The process by which gases hold heat in the atmosphere is called the what?

The Greenhouse Effect. It happens when Greenhouse Gases (CO2) thicken the atmosphere and trap heat.


What happens as solar radiation travels towards earth?

Some is absorbed by molecules in the atmosphere (such as ultraviolet absorption by ozone), some is absorbed on the surface, and some is reflected by clouds or the surface back into space. The surface will re-radiate much of the absorbed solar radiation as infrared (thermal) radiation, and some of this is then absorbed by atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.


When you turn a heat lamp on What happens to the electrical energy?

It gets radiated away, as infrared radiation, which is part of the electromagnetic spectrum.It gets radiated away, as infrared radiation, which is part of the electromagnetic spectrum.It gets radiated away, as infrared radiation, which is part of the electromagnetic spectrum.It gets radiated away, as infrared radiation, which is part of the electromagnetic spectrum.