Does the Earth accumulate the energy it receives from the Sun, or does it reflect all of it back into space?

Question

I understand that the sun gives energy primarily in the form of sunlight, which contains various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. If the earth absorbs some of the energy, does the earth’s “total energy” accumulate?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

The first 5, 10 minutes of this video explain your misconception very well: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxL2HoqLbyA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxL2HoqLbyA)