Green House Effect essays

Green House Effect essays The greenhouse effect being a natural phenomenon is directly affected by human activities such as new industrial processes, more extensive agriculture and a rapid increase in the world's population causing global warming. Greenhouse effect is like a double jeopardy. Without the natural greenhouse effect we would be living in a very chilly place the worlds average temperature would be minus 18 degree Celsius instead of 16 degree Celsius we are used to. Again, greenhouse effect, influenced by the careless human activities, is the reason of recent increase of average temperature of the earth, popularly known as global warming. The natural greenhouse effect is a phenomenon created by the heat energy radiated by the sun and greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons) normally present in the atmosphere. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere, warming the Earth; in turn, the Earth radiates this energy back towards space. As suns energy passes through the atmosphere, greenhouse gases absorb part of the energy, while the remainder escapes into space. This means that some of the sun's energy becomes trapped thus making the lower part of the atmosphere, the Earth, warmer. Now, if the atmosphere accumulated all the trapped heat, then the Earth's temperature would just rise and rise, but it doesn't. The temperature only rises until the amount of infrared or long wave radiation leaving the Earth balances the amount of energy coming in from the sun. As long as the amount of greenhouse gases in the air stays the same, and as long as the amount of heat arriving from th e sun is constant, an equilibrium is established. This is a steady state where as much energy is lost to space as is gained from the sun. In this equilibrium, the natural greenhouse effect maintains the earths temperature at tolerable label. According to the scientist of Australian Academy...