Why is the greenhouse effect only one way?

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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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Anonymous 0 Comments

The light and the heat are two different things. The atmosphere is transparent enough for the light to get through because photons simply pass through it mostly.

But heat is essentially the energy of molecules in a fluid bouncing/colliding and generally moving. So for heat to leave the system, all that energy has to make its way out of the outer atmosphere. This is why that is more difficult

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