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Scientists understood physics of climate change in the 1800s – thanks to a woman named Eunice Foote
(theconversation.com)
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Thanks for the criticism.
However, the greenhouse effect is supposed to work by absorbing outgoing infrared, not sunlight which the experiment measured. The absorption of sunlight is not much compared to the absorption of outgoing infrared. Therefore I still believe the experiment is irrelevant to the greenhouse effect, while the part of my comment you quoted might be wrong.
Ah, I see what you mean.
The experiment showed that the CO2 gas was an efficient absorber of some form of radiant energy that came from the sun. We now know that this energy is infrared radiation. This radiation is emitted by hot bodies, and the sun emits a lot of it.
But yes, you are correct in that her experiment was not about the greenhouse effect itself - which includes more complicated interactions such as the reflection and emission of IR from the earth's surface. But, still, the absorption of IR by CO2 is a very important component. And her observations - using the sun as the source of the infrared - is also a very relevant observation. This is because:
So I don't think her work is irrelevant. It is very relevant. But I do think that the title "Scientists understood physics of climate change" is stretched because this experiment by itself is not enough to describe all of the complexity of the green house effect and climate change.