For example, what is the reason why greenhouse gases reflect heat from the Earth back to Earth, but not heat from the Sun back to the space?
From what I understand, it has something to do with radiation and emitted waves, but what exactly makes the difference?
In: Planetary Science
Heat from the sun is almost exclusively the “radiated” type, meaning that photons carrying energy travel from the sun to us.
Those photons are absorbed by things which then heat those things up – if you stand in the sun during the day, you can feel the heat from the sun.
This heats up the whole planet.
The only way this heat can then escape the planet is if it is radiated away, because the other methods of getting rid of heat don’t work in a vacuum – conduction requires materials touching and convection requires fluid to move.
CO2 and other green house gasses absorb radiated heat (from the sun, as well as from the planet) and then heats up the atmosphere through conduction and convection.
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