Greenhouse effect

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

The greenhouse effect is a way that the sun's rays make the planet warmer. The greenhouse effect that warms the planet is not the same effect that warms a greenhouse.

There is a natural greenhouse effect: this makes the Earth warmer than it would be.

There is a man-made greenhouse effect: this is believed to be making the Earth get warmer.

Many peoples are very interested in the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere of the Earth. Factories, farms, and other things that human beings do to make many different gases that go into the Earth's atmosphere. The gases carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) make the atmosphere less transparent to heat, so the Earth might maybe get warmer. If the Earth gets warmer, this could cause many serious problems. Different parts of the Earth could become warmer or colder, wetter or drier. The ice at the North Pole and South Pole could melt, which would make the sea levels higher, and flood many cities that are close to the sea, or in low lying areas in the world. The greenhouse effect was first discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824. Mars, Venus and other planets with atmospheres also have greenhouse effects.