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How does CO2 interact with infrared radiation?
Molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) can absorb energy from infrared (IR) radiation. The energy from the photon causes the CO2 molecule to vibrate. Some time later, the molecule gives up this extra energy by emitting another infrared photon.
How much infrared radiation does CO2 absorb?
The range of infrared radiation from Earth is 6 to 22 microns. Each greenhouse gas and water vapor absorbs radiation from different areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Carbon dioxide and water absorb long wave radiation from 12 to 19 microns. Methane absorbs wavelengths 6 to 8 microns.
How is the atmosphere affected by CO2?
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas: a gas that absorbs and radiates heat. But increases in greenhouse gases have tipped the Earth’s energy budget out of balance, trapping additional heat and raising Earth’s average temperature. Carbon dioxide is the most important of Earth’s long-lived greenhouse gases.
How does CO2 get trapped in the atmosphere?
Burning fossil fuels like coal and oil puts more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. NASA has observed increases in the amount of carbon dioxide and some other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Too much of these greenhouse gases can cause Earth’s atmosphere to trap more and more heat.
Why does carbon dioxide absorb IR?
CO2 is a good absorber of infrared radiation because it can absorb energies with a wavelength of 15 micrometres. This makes it easy for absorbing infrared radiation. The energy from the photon causes the CO2 molecule to vibrate.
What happens to CO2 when it absorbs infrared radiation?
Certain gases in the atmosphere have the property of absorbing infrared radiation. Oxygen and nitrogen the major gases in the atmosphere do not have this property. The infrared radiation strikes a molecule such as carbon dioxide and causes the bonds to bend and vibrate – this is called the absorption of IR energy.
Does CO2 break down in the atmosphere?
CO2 does not break down until about 80 kilometers from the Earth’s surface, giving atmospheric gases a huge expanse to occupy. Excited by the heat radiating from the Sun into the atmosphere, molecules move rapidly.
What absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere?
Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gases in Earth’s atmosphere absorb the longer wavelengths of outgoing infrared radiation from Earth’s surface.
What causes absorption of infrared radiation?
The infrared absorption arises as at temperatures above absolute zero, all atoms in molecules are in continuous vibration with respect to each other. When the frequency of a specific vibration is equal to the frequency of the IR radiation directed on the molecule, it absorbs radiation.