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Old March 29th 17, 08:41 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tango Whisky
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Posts: 402
Default How does sun heat the air?

Le mercredi 29 mars 2017 10:00:08 UTC+2, Jim White a écritÂ*:
At 20:17 27 March 2017, Duster wrote:
Not exactly transparent. The sky appears blue because air molecules and
sus=
pended particles absorb and scatter certain wavelengths of light. This
ener=
gy is transduced from photons into heat. However, the majority of
advection=
is due to the previous explanation. Not a physicist, so someone else

take
=
a stab.

The downward energy radiated by the sun is short wave and not absorbed by
the atmosphere. The upward energy radiated by the ground is long wave which
is.


That's not correct.
The energy radiated upward is in the 10 micron region, and the only constituet of the atmosphere which absorbs infrared is CO2. Which accounts to 400 ppm.

So, it's rather that the grounds heats the adjacent air by heat conduction, not by radiation.