What is causing the Earth to get warmer?
Q: What is causing the Earth to get warmer?
A: People are putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which is called the greenhouse effect.
Q: What is the biggest source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
A: Burning coal is the biggest thing that puts carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.
Q: What does climate sensitivity mean?
A: Climate sensitivity means how much the Earth will warm when a certain amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere. It usually refers to how much warmer it would be if there was twice as much CO2 in the atmosphere than what was present in 1750 before people started burning lots of coal.
Q: How much extra heat gets trapped when CO2 doubles in the atmosphere?
A: When CO2 doubles in the atmosphere, an extra 4 joules of heat gets trapped every second on every square metre on Earth.
Q: How hot will Earth become after a long time if CO2 doubles?
A: After a long time, scientists think that if CO2 doubles, then Earth will be about 3°C hotter.
Q: What stops some heat from escaping from Earth?
A: Greenhouse gases stop some heat from escaping from Earth, which is why it's called "the greenhouse effect".
