Idea / theory / claimBranches1896

The greenhouse effect

Eunice Foote John Tyndall Svante Arrhenius

This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method

For everyone

In 1856 Eunice Foote showed that a vessel filled with carbon dioxide warms more in the sun than one filled with air. In 1861 Tyndall measured the absorption of infrared heat by water vapour and carbon dioxide. In 1896 Arrhenius calculated that doubling atmospheric CO₂ would warm the Earth by several degrees. Without the greenhouse effect the Earth's average temperature would be far below freezing.

For specialists

Greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit infrared radiation emitted by the Earth's surface at particular wavelengths (the ~15 µm band for CO₂), causing the radiation escaping to space to come from higher, colder layers. Radiative forcing rises with the logarithm of CO₂ concentration (approximately ΔF ≈ 5.35 ln(C/C₀) W/m²). Satellite measurements have directly shown changes in the greenhouse-gas absorption bands of the outgoing infrared spectrum.

Claims

Carbon dioxide and water vapour absorb infrared radiation; an increase in atmospheric CO₂ warms the surface.^[2][3]

Evidence

Supporting

Experiment

Laboratory measurements showed that CO₂ and water vapour strongly absorb infrared heat, while nitrogen and oxygen hardly do.^[2]

Experiment

In sunlight, a vessel of CO₂ warmed more than vessels of moist or dry air.^[1]

Challenging

—

Connections

Parent

Climate and climate change

Built upon by

Present-day global warming and its causes

The laws of thermodynamics

Show in tree →

Sources

ArticleFoote, E. (1856). Circumstances affecting the heat of the sun's rays. American Journal of Science and Arts 22, 382–383
ArticleTyndall, J. (1861). On the absorption and radiation of heat by gases and vapours, and on the physical connexion of radiation, absorption, and conduction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 151, 1–36DOI 10.1098/rstl.1861.0001 archive
ArticleArrhenius, S. (1896). On the influence of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature of the ground. Philosophical Magazine 41, 237–276DOI 10.1080/14786449608620846 archive

Search the literature

Look for scholarly work on this topic in other indexes:

Google Scholar ↗Semantic Scholar ↗BASE ↗CORE ↗arXiv ↗DergiPark ↗

Cite this page

APA

Athena contributors. (2026). The greenhouse effect. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/sera-etkisi/

BibTeX

@misc{athena_sera_etkisi,
  title        = {The greenhouse effect},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/sera-etkisi/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history

✎ Suggest a correction