So what I’m reading is that these gas absorb the light from the sun and keeps it trapped on the earth.
What I don’t get is how is it letting the light and heat in from the sun in, but not the light and heat reflected from the Earth out? If it’s a barrier, shouldn’t it block both ways? If it’s not a barrier, how is it trapping the heat?
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How well light transmits through a material depends on the wave length of light. Light from the sun has a peak intensity in the visible range, which transmits through the atmosphere fairly well. Once that light hits earth, it is largely absorbed and transformed into heat which radiates away through longer infrared wavelengths. It is these infrared wave links that greenhouse, gases absorb, thus trapping the energy
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