Struggling to understand the greenhouse effect? This video will help
YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder is known for her engaging and entertaining videos where she tackles all kinds of science questions. You may remember this episode of her show where she tackled obesity or this one where she explored the best way to reduce emissions from air travel.
Now, Hossenfelder is back and she is taking on the greenhouse effect, a topic so complex the science and technology expert claims that even she misunderstood it.
"How does the greenhouse effect work? Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, prevent infrared radiation from escaping to outer space. This warms the surface of earth. More greenhouse gas means more warming. Simple enough!" says Hossenfelder in her video's description.
"Alas, if you look at the numbers, it turns out that most infrared radiation is absorbed almost immediately above the ground already at pre-industrial greenhouse gas levels. So how does it really work? In this video, I try to sort it out."
To do this, the YouTuber offers three levels of explanations for the famous effect: the middle school version, the high school version and the PhD. She finishes the video by explaining stratospheric cooling. If you have ever struggled to understand the greenhouse effect, then this video is for you.