Chemistry 2210A/B Lecture 5: Lec 5 - Greenhouse Effect

• School: Western University
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: Chemistry 2210A/B
• Professor: Keith Griffiths

Document Summary

Greenhouse effect is normal what makes our planet habitable and temperature: cold without it. Global warming: enhanced greenhouse effect = effect of increasing temperature. Currently the most pressing worldwide environmental problem: won(cid:495)t go away soon, not like ozone hole where it can be fixed, at point of no return, adapting to. (aven(cid:495)t really observed any definitive evidence of this phenomenon, so not everyone is convinced (yet: not definitive evidence, atmosphere is warming up fact. Cause of the warming generates skepticism: cycles of temperature and the sun and cycles repeat. Skeptical people say this is all natural. Predictions difficult, so information is not available (cid:498)ahead of the fact(cid:499) Earth(cid:495)s air temperature is determined by the balance between: Incoming energy from the sun (absorbed sunlight), and: energy emitted from the surface & atmosphere to space. We get all our energy from the sun in form of sunlight. Sun is absorbed and it converted to heat.