On Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 6:59:55 PM UTC-7, wrote:
The sun shines down through the atmosphere, hits things on the ground,
the things on the ground get hot, and then the hot things on the
ground heat the air?

Sun light passing through the air does not heat the air at all? Heats
the air some but not much?

If the air is transparent to solar energy, how is the air able to
pick up so much energy from hot objects on the ground?

Bill
6W

The atmospheric isn't totally transparent to solar radiation, but absorbs a portion of it before it reaches Earth. Solar irradiance at the troposphere is 1366 W/m^2; by the time it reaches Earth it has decreased to about 1000 W/m^2. The difference of 366 W/m^2 goes into heating the atmosphere. Of course the ground reradiates infrared energy it absorbs back into the atmosphere.

Tom