Which of the following would NOT be something that happens to solar energy when it enters the earth's.?
Question:
A) absorbed by the earth's surface
B) reflected by clouds
C) absorbed by the earth's ocean
D) solar energy is reflected at the thermopause
Answer:
Hmm, this question can be interpreted in one of two ways, either extremely literally (bordering on a trick question) or extremely loosely (so much inexactness as to make none of the answers completely true).
Since it sounds like a basic earth science homework question, I will start with the looser approach:
The answer would probably be D. This is because the thermopause is the semi-imaginary boundary so far up in the atmosphere that atmospheric molecules above this level are basically boiling off of the planet. The atmosphere that far up is so thin that I sincerely doubt there is any significant reflection of energy from this region of the atmosphere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/exosphere...
Here is a pretty good web page showing what happens to the energy from the sun as it reaches the earth and our atmosphere:
http://www.csun.edu/~psk17793/es9cp/es9%...
Especially look at the diagram at the bottom of the page, and note that reflection from the atmosphere (including the thermopause) is only about 6% -- compared to 51% absorbed by the Earth's surface and ocean, and 20% reflected by the clouds.
However, if taken more as a trick question, it would be either A or C, because these interactions do not happen "when it enters the earth's atmosphere," but rather after it has passed THROUGH the earth's atmosphere and reached the surface of the earth or its oceans.
Really, this question should be re-phrased as "Which of the following does not form a significant part of the interaction between solar radiation and the earth" or "Which of the following is the least significant part of the interaction between solar radiation and the earth" or something to that effect, at least in my mind.
solar energy is absorbed to cause menopause.
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