Q. Which of the following is most important for absorption of heat radiated from the Sun as well as from the Earth?
Answer: Carbon dioxide
Notes: Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that absorbs heat radiated from the Sun as well as re-radiated heat from the Earth’s surface. It not only retains the solar radiation, but, absorbs thermal infrared energy (heat) radiated by the surface. It absorbs thermal infrared energy with wavelengths in a part of the energy spectrum that other gases do not. It is believed to have played an important effect in regulating Earth’s temperature throughout its 4.7-billion-year history.