Why dont greenhouse gases absorb solar energy as it comes from the sun rather than after?

Question

it reaches the earth's surface?

Answer 1

So far, no one has provided the correct explaination, makes you wonder how much the so called experts here really know.  As with all things, it is not as simple as you might think.

The sun emits energy in many ways, but much of what reaches the earth is electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum, that is, light.  The Earth's atmosphere, including green house gases such as CO2, H2O and NO2, is essentially transparent to visible light and thus, it passes through the atmosphere with little loss and reaches the planetary surface.  At the surface, some of the visible light is absorbed, if it wasn't, the Earth would look like a shiney mirror ball, the enegy in this absorbed light is converted to heat (i.e. when the light is absorbed, the molecules of the surface begin to move more rapidly.  Some of this energy is then reradiated from the surface as electromagnetic radiation in the infared spectrum (you can't see this, but you can feel it as heat radiating from a hot surface).  So called green house gases are not transparent to infared radiation, and thus absorb it, much as the surface absorbs visible light.  This heats these gases up.

Answer 2

They do.

Answer 3

Greenhouse gasses do absorb solar energy at many points through the life-cycle (if you were to measure it as one day, etc).

Solar power sources absorb as much solar energy as they can at the moment.  For example, on a very cloudy day, they won't collect as much power as on a sunny day.

This is where pollution comes in.  If you've ever been to a large city in Asia, such as Bangkok or New Delhi, the pollution can make a sunny day look like an overcast, "dirty" sky to people in North America such as us.

Greenhouse gases and solar energy do work inversely.  But the more solar energy we produce and is actually implemented into society, the less greenhouse gases we will emit.

Answer 4

CheetosM

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live 100% off of the grid and are completely self-sufficient with a 0% Carbon footprint. I believe this is the first step anyone can make “help the environment”. Once you convert your own life style to a greener more eco friendly route, you can start helping others.

if your interested feel free to contact me personally at www agua-luna com

We definitely didn't start global warming, but we definitely do contribute to it now.

Natural gas (or Methane along with other thanes) for example, is completely a natural contributer to global warming and is derived pretty much the same way as oil. ie. Matter (animal, plant etc) decomposes over time resulting in a anaerobic (hope I spelled that right) decay of non-fossil organic material / gas (natural gas or methane).

One problem with global warming is that the concept is so vague in the minds of the people. The critical interpretation is basically how it’s explained in school and the news. However most of the public see global warming connected with the ozone and pollutants which cause harmful greenhouse gasses, etc. therefore investigating and fighting for things like alternative energy (ie. Solar, wind, hydrogen, ethanol, biodiesel, etc)

Greenhouse gases are real and do contribute to global warming. Think of the different gas layers like ozone (o3) that circumference the globe as the clear plastic on a greenhouse. Longer rays of light from the Sun go in and reflect off different thermal masses bouncing back and creating shorter lengths of energy that cannot exist the plastic barrier. These beams then just continue to bounce around inside the green house until they’re finally absorbed completely (some do escape but very few), thereby warming the greenhouse greatly even in cold temperatures.

Basically there are 2 ways that this reaction (or lack of) affects the planet. Global warming and global cooling.

1. as we add to the gases in the stratosphere, where the ozone layer is (Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, etc), we add to the plastic of the greenhouse, trapping more short wave length energy and heating the earth more.

2. as we deplete the ozone (with chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs), we allow more long wave length energy, which bounces back out to space without heating any thermal masses on earth, thereby cooling the planet.

It’s pretty easy to see the results..

Melting ice sheets & glaciers

Floods & droughts

Great hurricanes & cyclones

Seasonal extremes

Seasonal phenomena’s

Species extinction

New & resurgent diseases

There are many ways to stop both global warming and cooling from accruing or at least slow them down until we can discover a way to reverse it, but Stop burning fossil fuels is the biggest.

I currently own 2 converted h2 vehicles which run on 100% hydrogen and 1 EV (electric vehicle), not to mention our home is completely off the grid, using alternative energy (solar, wind, etc)

If you interested I offer several DIY alternative guides to walk you step by step threw Greener living, how to run your car on alternative fuels and being self-sufficient, at agua-luna com or

www agua-luna com

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at  www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:  

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Answer 5

The theory is carbon dioxide gasses retain heat more than the oxygen ozone. the problem being co2 is heavier than air and thus surrounds us. Feel any shortness of breath lately? Of course not, Global warming is a direct result of solar activity, sunspots, which causes the magnetic field around the earth to have intermittent fields of positive and negative charged particles in inconsistent patterns. Some areas are warmer and some are colder.

A similar condition has occurred on the earth several times,

you can't stop it and neither can those now getting rich and powerful from money generated by the likes of Al Gore. It is just there way of competing with the jones[bushs']