QuestionEnvironment / greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases are known so as:
- (a) they trap heat in the high altitudes.
- (b) they act like a greenhouse on the surface of the planet.
- (c) the colour of some of the gases emanating from industrial plants are green.
- (d) these gases are produced by agricultural crops.
Answer: (b) they act like a greenhouse on the surface of the planet.
The name comes from the greenhouse analogy: like glass, these gases let short-wave sunlight in but trap outgoing long-wave (infrared) radiation, warming the surface and lower atmosphere. Colour has nothing to do with it.