How do the effective radiating temperatures determined in part ...

[Sufayan.ah]

How do the effective radiating temperatures determined in part (b) compare with the value for Earth, and why is this result surprising?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

The mean surface temperatures of Venus and Mars are 730 K and 218 K, respectively. Using the answer to part (b), determine the magnitude of the greenhouse effect on each planet.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[EAN94]

Answer to Question 1

The values of Te for both Venus and Mars are 219.7 K and 212.5 K respectively, which in both cases is considerably less than the Te value for earth (255 K). This is surprising because one might presume that because Venus is closer to the Sun than both Earth and Mars, and consequently intercepts greater solar flux, its Te value would be greater than Earth, and much greater than Mars. However, as pointed out, this is not the case. Instead, the high albedo of Venus causes much of the Sun's radiation to be reflected, and this in turn causes the effective temperature to be lower than expected.

Answer to Question 2

Greenhouse Effect: Tg= Ts-Te
Given: Ts (Venus)= 730 K
Ts (Mars)= 218 K

Venus: Tg (Venus)= Ts(Venus)-Te(Venus)
Tg (Venus)= 730 K  219.7 K
Tg (Venus)= 510.3 K

Mars: Tg (Mars)= Ts(Mars)-Te(Mars)
Tg (Mars)= 218 K  212.5 K
Tg (Mars)= 5.5 K