Most of the information on the net about the greenhouse effect actually pertains to global warming. Here we explain in detail the actual origin of the term as it pertains to greenhouses or physics of how solar radiation is transformed as it passes through glass. explanation of the physics of the greenhouse effect as it occurs in an actual greenhouse.
Different materials may be transparent to different frequencies of light. Glass is transparent to visible light, but much less so to infrared. So the sun shines into the greenhouse, materials inside absorb the energy and become warm, then re-radiate it as infrared, which is mostly reflected back from the glass, so the greenhouse continues to warm up beyond the outdoor temperature.
“Greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere, such as CO2 and methane, have the same kind of effect, reflecting infrared back to the earth.
Btw, not all transparent materials act like glass in this regard. The possibility exists to make sheets of diamond using vapor deposition techniques. This material would be transparent to both visible and IR light, just the thing for car windows in warm climates.
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