The Greenhouse Effect

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The Greenhouse Effect There are a variety of chemical compounds exposed in the Earth’s atmosphere that act as “greenhouse gases.” These gases trap energy from the sun into the atmosphere and allowing the gases to move more freely. Certain gases in the atmosphere such as; water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane creates the rise of the temperature of Earth. Also, the rise of temperature is also due to the sunlight striking the Earth’s surface, reflecting it back towards space as infrared radiation, known as heat, and the trapped long wavelength radiation creates a higher resultant temperature. The greenhouse is what keeps earth warm, without it, heat would leave and come back into space making the Earth’s average temperature 60º Fahrenheit colder. Without the greenhouse effect, planet earth would just be one big ice cube. The average temperature would have been about -18 degrees Celsius, past the point below freezing. Since the greenhouse effect does exist, it acts as a natural temperature control system that keeps the planet warm enough to allow us to live comfortably; more importantly, without it, there would be no life. It is crucial to our way of living because its temperature supports life in all its forms. One vital factor on how we are able to survive is the carbon dioxide that comes from the greenhouse gases. Although carbon dioxide is known as being the earth’s deadly enemy, it’s the one that provides the food for all the plants. Plants act as a filter to clean out the carbon dioxide in our air. Also, climate changes warm up very cold places allowing crops to grow in a better environment. As good as the greenhouse effect can be for our environment, there are also negative effects as well. As much as the greenhouse effect is keeping our Earth to a comfortable temperature, too much increased levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide
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