To understand how green-house gasses
work, it's necessary to understand how light, of various frequencies,
interacts with matter, how that varies with the kinds of light (infra-red,
visible, &c.) and matter and how that effects the movement of energy between
the top and bottom of the atmosphere. That's quite a bit to explain and it
entails quite a lot of different aspects of physics: however, I hope I can give
an account of it that is both adequately faithful to the reality (albeit
glossing over many of the subtleties and complications) and accessible (despite
going into enough detail to convey an adequate understanding) to a wide
audience.
Written by Eddy.