Natural Resources Notes

• The phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation, due to the presence of various atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the earth's surface.

• Incoming solar radiations have shorter wavelength thus more penetrating power so they can reach the surface easily but the outgoing infrared radiations with higher wavelength possess less penetrating power. Hence outgoing radiations cannot escape the atmosphere and get trapped by the atmospheric gases. This increases the atmospheric temperature.
• The natural greenhouse effect is important so as to maintain the temperature of earth’s surface to support the life.

Green house gases:

• Beside temperature regulation, air also helps in maintaining the weather-wind, rain, snow etc.
• Wind is a flow of gases on a large scale. Since air is a mixture of gases so due to variation in temperature and pressure it tends to move from one region to the other resulting in winds.

Generation of wind:

• Atmosphere plays an important role in cloud formation and bringing rain.
• Rain is liquid water in the form of droplets that have produced by the condensation and precipitation of atmospheric water vapors. It falls on earth due to force of gravity.

Formation of clouds and Generation of rain:

Evaporation: