Question

3. The greenhouse effect is driven by the fact that greenhouse gases are:

Answer 1

Answer:

The best answer to the question: The greenhouse effect is driven by the fact that greenhouse gases are:___, would be: Good absorbers of radiation at all wavelengths.

Explanation:

Under normal circumstances, the Earth receives energy from the sun and also produces a bit of its own energy. The energy that arrives from the sun is usually known as shortwave radiation, while the energy that is both absorbed by the Earth´s atmosphere, and the energy produced by Earth itself, becomes part of what is known as the longwave radiation. Greenhouse gases, like water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane trap both longwave and shortwave radiation, which should usually be expelled to a certain extent towards space, and maintain them trapped inside the atmosphere. This bouncing effect between the shield created by the gases and the lower atmosphere, should normally be controlled by the amount of atoms of gases in the higher atmosphere. However, in the greenhouse effect, what is happening is that the amount of gases is too high, and therefore they are trapping most of the radiation, both longwave and shortwave, and keeping it in, allowing the climate to warm up.