The Greenhouse Effect

climate · atmosphere · heat · planet science

Sun's energy arrives. Sunlight streams through our atmosphere and warms Earth's surface, kind of like light coming through a window.

Heat tries to escape. When Earth's surface gets warm, it sends heat back up toward space as invisible longwave radiation, just like heat rising from a hot stove.

Gases block the heat. Special gases in the air, like carbon dioxide and methane, catch that rising heat and bounce it back down instead of letting it float away to space.

Planet gets trapped. All that trapped heat makes Earth's surface hotter than it would be without these gases, kind of like how a blanket keeps you warm at night.

Named after greenhouses. This effect got its name because greenhouses work the same way: clear glass lets sunlight in but traps heat inside so plants stay warm and cozy.