Why is it called the "greenhouse effect"?

Question

why is the "greenhouse effect" called that? What has this got to do with greenhouses?

Answer 1

The electromagnetic energy radiated by the sun in the light spectrum passes thru the earths atmosphere, reaches the ground and is then reflected back into space, but with the presence of CO2, the reflected light gets trap in the atmoshpere and never radiated out into space. The same things happens in a green house. The glass acts as a transparent insulator between the outside air and inside air. Light is made up of a broad spectrum of visible and invisible-to-the-eye energy, from ultra-violet to infra-red.  The energy it carries in the form of heat is trap inside the green house.

Answer 2

oh i know coz there is so much carbon dioxide the earth is letting the suns heat it but not letting it out so its getting hotter coz it can't escape just like a green house!

Answer 3

because greenhouses trap in the heat. that is essentially what grrenhouse gases do aswell.

Answer 4

a greenhouse is made to trap the heat, like the layers of our atmosphere are trapping in the heat.

Answer 5

Most have described it correctly.  I was just going to add that it is this greenhouse effect that keeps the planet from freezing each night when the sun goes down, by keeping much of the heat in.

Over 95% of this layer is composed of water vapor.  It also contains very small traces of CO2 and Methane.

So it's a beneficial and natural thing.  It's what makes life possible on this planet as opposed to other planets.

Answer 6

The greenhouse effect is the process in which the emission of infrared radiation by the atmosphere warms a planet's surface. The name comes from an incorrect analogy with the warming of air inside a greenhouse compared to the air outside the greenhouse.

Answer 7

Light loses some of it's energy when it passes through a transparent medium. How much energy it loses depends on how transparent the medium.   If the light is then reflected back it can lack the energy to make the return trip.  For this reason, a greenhouse stays warm in the winter, a car on a parking lot on a sunny day gets hotter than the outside, and gasses that make the atmosphere less transparent warm the earth.  

No one knows exactly how long the principle has been known and used by humans.  In terms of atmospheric science it was first described mathematically by Fourier in 1824.

Answer 8

it is just that, a Green House, the atmosphere is the Glass. the House is US, thus the word is derived in that manner.

Answer 9

It is called the GreenHouse Effect because it is basically a large scale model of a greenhouse. When you have a greenhouse, you put the plastic on top to hold in all the heat. This is similar to the ozone and all of the pollutants that are being trapped in the upper atmosphere. Like the plastic, the pollutants let light and heat come in, but do not allow it to come out.

Answer 10

Spend a whole day in a greenhouse, morning till evening.

It'll start cool, then warm as the sun comes out. Even when the sun goes down, it'll still feel warm because the heat's trapped.

Shabam.

Answer 11

REad this i hope it helps

Have you ever seen a greenhouse? Most greenhouses look like a small glass house. Greenhouses are used to grow plants, especially in the winter. Greenhouses work by trapping heat from the sun. The glass panels of the greenhouse let in light but keep heat from escaping. This causes the greenhouse to heat up, much like the inside of a car parked in sunlight, and keeps the plants warm enough to live in the winter.

The Earth’s atmosphere is all around us. It is the air that we breathe. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere behave much like the glass panes in a greenhouse. Sunlight enters the Earth's atmosphere, passing through the blanket of greenhouse gases. As it reaches the Earth's surface, land, water, and biosphere absorb the sunlight’s energy. Once absorbed, this energy is sent back into the atmosphere. Some of the energy passes back into space, but much of it remains trapped in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases, causing our world to heat up.

Answer 12

Because the final effect is like a greenhouse.  In a greenhouse, sunlight shines in and heats things up.  The glass of the greenhouse keeps the warm air inside.

CO2 uses a different mechanism, but has the same overall effect, that of keeping more of the Sun's heat close to Earth.  Hence "greenhouse effect".

Answer 13

The carbon dioxide levels allow the suns heat to radiate in, but not to exit.  Therefore doing the same thing as a greenhouse.

-Wes

(Go vegetarian and save lives every day!!)