<span>Earth’s temperature depends on the balance between energy entering and leaving
the planet’s system . When incoming energy from the sun is absorbed by
the Earth system, Earth warms. When the sun’s energy is reflected back
into space, Earth avoids warming. When energy is released back into
space, Earth cools. Many factors, both natural and human, can cause
changes in Earth’s energy balance, including:</span>
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<span>Models that account only for the effects of natural
processes are not able to explain the warming over the past century.
Models that also account for the greenhouse gases emitted by humans are
able to explain this warming.
Source: USGRCP (2009)
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Changes in the greenhouse effect, which affects the amount of heat retained by Earth’s atmosphereVariations in the sun’s energy reaching EarthChanges in the reflectivity of Earth’s atmosphere and surface
The kinetic energy is proportional to the temperature. That is, temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy of atoms and molecules that are part of a system.
Redox reactions involve one substance losing electrons (oxidized) and another substance gaining electrons (reduced) in the same reaction. As electrons are transferred between substances, the electrons lose potential energy and energy is released.
Heat is the sum of all the kinetic energies of all the molecules of an object, while temperature is the average kinetic energy of the molecules of an object
