First, "greenhouse effect" seems like a completely misleading term because real greenhouses operate by allowing light in but preventing heat from escaping. But the earth is in a vacuum so heat cannot escape anyway.
My understanding of the greenhouse effect is: Greenhouse gasses prevent light reflected from earth's surface from fully escaping because they scatter the light instead of letting the light pass straight through.
If this is the case, then shouldn't the same effect happen for light coming in? That is, the sun doesn't shine on earth with full intensity, because the greenhouse gasses scatter it away from the earth?
[–]IkeConn 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun - (0 children)