Energy in Earth's Atmosphere

Energy in Earth's Atmosphere

​warm-up: (Answer this question in your notebook)

If the sun is 93 million miles away, How does the suns Energy Reach earth?

• The Sun's Energy travels ​as electromagnetic waves

• includes visible light, UV light, infrared, radio waves, X-rays, gamma rays

Energy from the Sun

• Energy from the sun can be ...

  • Absorbed

  • reflected

  • transmitted

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Sunlight and the Atmosphere

Multiple Select

What types of electromagnetic waves are absorbed by Earth's Atmosphere?

• UltraViolet (UV)

• Visiable

• Infrared

• Gamma

Open Ended

Why is it important that most UV waves are absorbed by the atmosphere?

• Some UV radiation is absorbed in the Thermosphere

• Some Infrared and UV is absorbed by the mesosphere and stratosphere

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What Kind of electromagnetic radiation makes it through Earth's Atmosphere?

About 50% of solar radiation that reaches the earth is absorbed by land and water.

The rest is:

• reflected by the atmosphere (25%)

• Absorbed by the atmosphere (20%)

• Reflected by earth's Surface (5%)

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Earth's Energy Budget

​Most of the solar radiation that reaches Earth's Surface is absorbed and re-emitted as infrared radiation

Earth's Energy Budget

Multiple Choice

About how much solar radiation reaches Earth's surface?

• 5%

• 20%

• 25%

• 50%

Multiple Choice

About how much solar radiation is absorbed by Earth's Atmosphere?

• 5%

• 20%

• 25%

• 50%

• As solar energy is absorbed by Earth's surface and atmosphere, it is transformed into heat energy.

• The Atmosphere traps some heat energy near Earth's surface. The rest escapes into space.

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Greenhouse Effect

Open Ended

What would happen if the atmosphere trapped too much heat energy?

• All matter is made of moving particles

• Temperature is the average motion of those particles

• Thermal energy is the total Energy of motion in the particles

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Heat Transfer in the Atmosphere

• Conduction - direct contact

• Convection - Movement of fluids (liquids, gasses)

• Radiation - electromagnetic waves (empty space)

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Methods of Heat Transfer

Heat Transfer at Earth's Surface

• Solar radiation for the sun is absorbed by Earth's surface and transformed into thermal energy

• Air that is close to the ground is headed by conduction

• As air particles warm, the spread out, become less dense and rise causing convection

Draw

Use arrows to show how Earth's atmosphere is heated. The types of heat transfer

​Review Questions

Multiple Choice

How does solar energy reach Earth?

• Conduction

• Radiation

• convection

Multiple Choice

Solar Radiation that reaches Earth can be _______ by the atmosphere

• absorbed

• reflected

• transmitted

• All of these are correct

Multiple Choice

The Greenhouse effect...

• traps all of the suns energy on Earth

• Traps some of the suns energy on Earth

• Allow all of the suns energy to leave earth

• Is used to grow plants

Multiple Choice

heat transfer by the movement of a fluid (liquid or gas)

• conduction

• convection

• radiation