Definition
The greenhouse effect is the warming of the earth due to heat gain caused by the trapping of longwave radiation emitted by the earth, and a major source of the human impact on climate change. The trapping is caused by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methan, chloral-floural carbons (CFC's), ozone, and nitrous oxides. This effect, much like a greenhouse, causes heat to be trapped in the atmosphere which heats the earth. The greenhouse effect has become an big issue in the past few years due to concerns that CO2 emmissions that humans are generating is causing more longwave radiation to be trapped.