Which one of the following statements with regard to greenhouse effect

Which one of the following statements with regard to greenhouse effect is correct?

It can take place inside a glass chamber where no radiation can pass into it or pass back through it

It can take place inside a glass chamber where long wavelength infrared radiation can pass through into it and short wavelength infrared radiation cannot pass back through it

It can take place inside a glass chamber where short wavelength infrared radiation can pass through and long wavelength infrared radiation cannot pass through it

It can take place inside a glass chamber where all infrared radiation can pass into it or pass back through it

Answer is Right!

Answer is Wrong!

This question was previously asked in

UPSC CAPF – 2024

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The greenhouse effect in a simplified model, like a glass chamber (or the Earth’s atmosphere), works because the medium is transparent to incoming radiation but opaque or less transparent to outgoing radiation. The Sun emits radiation primarily in the visible and short-wavelength infrared range, which passes through glass. This radiation heats the interior surface. The heated surface then re-emits radiation in the longer wavelength infrared range. Glass (and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere) absorb or reflect this longer wavelength infrared radiation, trapping heat inside. Therefore, short wavelength radiation passes in, and long wavelength radiation cannot easily pass out.

The core principle of the greenhouse effect is the differential transparency of the trapping medium (glass or atmosphere) to incoming short-wavelength radiation and outgoing long-wavelength infrared radiation.

In the Earth’s atmosphere, greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor play the role of the glass, being largely transparent to incoming solar radiation but absorbing and re-emitting outgoing infrared radiation, warming the planet. A glass greenhouse traps heat not only due to this radiative effect but also by preventing convective heat loss. However, the term “greenhouse effect” applied to the atmosphere primarily refers to the radiative trapping mechanism.

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