I need a detailed explanation of global warming?

Question

I know a few facts about global warming but i need to full steps. I know global warming is sorta like a domino effect.

Human activity somehow causes the earth to warm. But HOW?? I know we're using natural resources. How does the earth get warmer?

When the earth warms polar ice caps melt, causing sea levels to rise which dangers coastal cities. With the sea levels rising it causes the weather to behave differently? How?

I know global warming is going to happen and us, humans are just speading up the process.

I'm writing a cause and effect paper for school

Answer 1

The human activity which is affecting global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. As fossil fuels are burnt, the carbon is released as Carbon Dioxide (CO2 gas) into the atmosphere. This gas, among others are called greenhouse gases and cause the greenhouse effect - as more of these gases are released into the atmosphere, the ability for the suns radiation to escape our atmosphere is reduced by these gases. The radiation essentially 'bounces off' the gases and is deflected back into our atmosphere. This is how a greenhouse works - it traps heat from the sun by not allowing the radiation to escape; that's how you can have a greenhouse in even some of the cold climates. So, as more greenhouse gases are released by the burning of fossil fuels, the more of the sun's radiation and heat gets trapped, causing the Earth to get warmer.

The Earth needs greenhouse gases and the warmth they provide, otherwise we would be like Mars - Mars has no greenhouse gas to trap heat and therefore is inhabitable. On the other hand, too much greenhouse gas could give us something like Venus (though I don't think as extreme) - far too much greenhouse gas traps far too much heat, also making the surface inhabitable (minus the fact that the gases and pressure would kill you as well).

Here is a decent diagram explaining the greenhouse effect:

http://www.geminibiofuels.co.uk/greenhou...

I don't know about sea level rise causing the weather to change, but if you look at the gulf of mexico for example - the warmer the Earth gets, the warmer the oceans get. Hurricanes basically 'feed' off of warm water. So as the earth heats up and the oceans heat up, larger and more destructive hurricanes will form. (Think of hurricane Katrina...that is only a precursor to what that area may see as the surrounding ocean continues to heat up).