You placed a car in an open parking area in a summer day. After a few

You placed a car in an open parking area in a summer day. After a few hours, you noticed that the heat is trapped inside the car. This phenomenon is known as

ozone depletion
greenhouse effect
solar effect
cosmic ray impingement
This question was previously asked in
UPSC CAPF – 2012
The phenomenon where heat is trapped inside a car parked in the sun is known as the greenhouse effect. Sunlight (short-wavelength radiation) passes through the glass windows and is absorbed by the interior surfaces of the car. These surfaces then re-radiate the energy as infrared radiation (long-wavelength heat radiation). The glass, while transparent to visible light, is largely opaque to this infrared radiation, trapping the heat inside the car and causing the temperature to rise.
– Sunlight (shortwave radiation) enters through glass.
– Interior absorbs sunlight and re-radiates as infrared heat (longwave radiation).
– Glass traps the infrared radiation, preventing heat escape.
This process is analogous to the way greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere trap heat, contributing to global warming. Ozone depletion refers to the thinning of the ozone layer, which protects from UV radiation. Solar effect generally refers to effects caused by the sun’s activity. Cosmic ray impingement is related to high-energy particles from space.