ASTR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Runaway Greenhouse Effect

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy
• Course: ASTR 101
• Professor: David Alan Hanes

Document Summary

Lecture 31 - cont. of the greenhouse effect, venus and global. Worst heat loss in houses are not due to the glass, it"s just from improper sealing of the windows. Temperature of a car increases exponentially on a hot day. Q: why are deserts cold at night. A: air above has no water vapour, sand heats up from sun during the day; since no water vapours to act as the greenhouse gas, the heat escapes at night. Covered in clouds; cannot see surface of planet :( Let the imagination of what it was like underneath run wild. Surface of venus; temp is hot enough to melt lead! ; atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide; clouds have sulphuric acid droplets (actual acid rain pure sulphuric acid dripping down); air pressure is ~90x earth"s (like being 1km deep in the ocean) Has runaway greenhouse effect (not because of the clouds)