What effect will be caused to the animals on the earth if there are no greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and why? the atmosphere and why?
Answers
Answer::The greenhouse effect often gets a bad rap because of its association with global warming, but the truth is we couldn't live without it.
Explanation:
Life on earth depends on energy from the sun. About 30 percent of the sunlight that beams toward Earth is deflected by the outer atmosphere and scattered back into space. The rest reaches the planet's surface and is reflected upward again as a type of slow-moving energy called infrared radiation.
The heat caused by infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane, which slows its escape from the atmosphere.
Answer: The greenhouse effect often gets a bad rap because of its association with global warming, but the truth is we couldn't live without it.
What Causes the Greenhouse Effect?
Life on earth depends on energy from the sun. About 30 percent of the sunlight that beams toward Earth is deflected by the outer atmosphere and scattered back into space. The rest reaches the planet's surface and is reflected upward again as a type of slow-moving energy called infrared radiation.
The heat caused by infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane, which slows its escape from the atmosphere.
Although greenhouse gases make up only about 1 percent of the Earth's atmosphere, they regulate our climate by trapping heat and holding it in a kind of warm-air blanket that surrounds the planet.
This phenomenon is what scientists call the greenhouse effect. Without it, scientists estimate that the average temperature on Earth would be colder by approximately 30 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit), far too cold to sustain most of our current ecosystems.
How Do Humans Contribute to the Greenhouse Effect?
While the greenhouse effect is an essential environmental prerequisite for life on Earth, there really can be too much of a good thing.
The problems begin when human activities distort and accelerate the natural process by creating more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than are necessary to warm the planet to an ideal temperature.
Burning natural gas, coal, and oil, including gasoline for automobile engines, raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, upsetting a balance between the release and capture of the gas by plants and algae.
Some farming practices and other land uses increase the levels of methane and nitrous oxide. Just exposing soils when plowing leads to carbon dioxide release.
Many factories produce long-lasting industrial gases that do not occur naturally, yet contribute significantly to the enhanced greenhouse effect and global warming that is currently underway.
Deforestation also contributes to global warming. Trees use carbon dioxide and give off oxygen in its place, which helps to create the optimal balance of gases in the atmosphere. As more forests are logged for timber or cut down to make way for farming, however, there are fewer trees to perform this critical function. At least some of the damage can be offset when young forests aggressively regrow, capturing tons of carbon.
Population growth is another factor in global warming because as more people use fossil fuels for heat, transportation and manufacturing the levels of greenhouse gases continues to increase. As more farming occurs to feed millions of new people, more greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere.
Ultimately, more greenhouse gases mean more infrared radiation trapped and held, which gradually increases the temperature of the Earth's surface, the air in the lower atmosphere, and ocean waters.