The Substitute 5#307 / 2009-04-15
At this stage, most everyone has heard of the greenhouse effect, and most everyone knows that at some level it is necessary for life on earth. Virtually no one, however, understands exactly what it is, how it works, and what contributions (good or bad) if any humans have.
Atmospheric gases that emit and absorb infrared radiation affect the steady state temperature of their planet or moon. This is the greenhouse effect. On earth, this is mostly water (about 70% water vapor, 20% clouds). The remaining 10% is split between various minor gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, etc.
Now a tangent: Carbon dioxide is essential to the base of the global food chain. You might remember this from preschool, but plants "breathe in" carbon dioxide and "exhale" oxygen. That's right kiddies, most plants obtain their energy through photosynthesis, using the energy of light to convert carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars. The more carbon dioxide available to a plant, the more efficiently water is managed and the bigger and stronger and greener it grows. Botanical greenhouses typically contain 2-4x the amount of carbon dioxide for just this reason.
Another tangent: Should nuclear winter descend, creating a snowball earth, volcanic discharge (carbon dioxide, sulfur, etc.) is our only hope of melting free.
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