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Essay Archive - The Ozone Layer
The Ozone Layer
In environmental science the green house effect is a common term for the
role water vapor; carbon dioxide and ozone play in keeping the earth’s surface
warmer than it would normally be. The atmosphere is primarily transparent to
infrared radiation from the sun, which is mostly absorbed by the earth’s surface.
The earth being much cooler than the sun, remits radiation most strongly at
infrared wavelengths. Water vapor, carbon dioxide and ozone then absorb much of
this radiation and remit a large proportion back towards the earth. The
atmosphere thus acts as a kind of blanket: without its pres....
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