Energy In Earth’s Atmosphere Notes

The Sun gives off ______radiation. This consists of Gamma ray radiation, X-ray radiation, Ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, microwave radiation, and radio waves.

  • The sun’s energy comes from ______that take place inside the sun.
  • Inside the sun, ______atoms are smashing together to create ______atoms. This nuclear fusion creates energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SUN’S RADIATION THAT HITS EARTH?

  • Most of the sun’s radiation never makes it to the surface of Earth.
  • Most of the harmful radiation is deflected by the Earth’s ______(gamma rays), or is gotten rid of by the upper layers like the ozone layer (______).
  • About half of the total sunlight (solar radiation minus the harmful stuff that is gotten rid of by the magnetic field and ozone layer) ever makes it to the surface of Earth. Most of it gets ______, heating the surface of the Earth (land and water).
  • Sunlight (visible light) only turns into heat (infrared light) once it is ______by something.
  • 20% of sunlight is ______by gases and particles in the atmosphere, this heats the atmosphere
  • 25% of sunlight is ______by clouds, dust and gases in the air, shooting it right back into space.

WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?

  • Dust particles and gases in the atmosphere ______light in all directions, this is called______.
  • The light you see in the sky has been ______by gas molecules in the atmosphere.
  • ______wavelengths (blue and violet) get scattered much more than long wavelengths (red and orange). So scattered light looks bluer than ordinary sunlight (thus the sky is blue when you look at it during the daytime).
  • At sunrise and sunset the light travels through a ______amount of atmosphere than during the daytime, so more of the ______wavelengths have been scattered away by the time it reaches your eyes, the ______and ______wavelengths are what remains (thus the sun looks red and the clouds around it get very colorful at dawn and dusk).

WHAT IS THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT?

When the surface absorbs the sun’s energy (about 50% of the energy that originally hit the atmosphere), most of the energy is ______as infrared radiation.

  • A lot of this reflected energy gets trapped by the water vapor and CO2 in the atmosphere (______) and the heat is held in the air.
  • Over time the amount of energy absorbed by the atmosphere and Earth’s surface is ______with the amount of energy radiated back into space.