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Heat Transfer on Earth

The following 1 comments and questions have been sent in. They are listed according to date.

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• How is air near the ground warmed by sunlight?

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How is air near the ground warmed by sunlight?

Question

November 12, 2008

I still dont understand how the air near the ground is warmed by sunlight. Reading all of that only made me undertstand that heat comes from the core.

- USA

16791

Answer

Heat from the core of the Earth moves up slowly, but by the time it gets to the surface, it does not have much effect on the ground temperature.

When the sun shines on the ground, the radiation is absorbed and heats the ground material. Dark soil absorbs the radiation the best. This means that the atoms in the material are moving faster.

Air molecules that come into contact with the ground are sped up from the fast-moving atoms and thus resulting in increasing the temperature of the air near the ground.

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