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VICPhysicsQuick questions
Unit 1: What ideas explain the physical world?
Quick questions on Climate and the greenhouse effect (VCE Physics Unit 1)
6short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is water vapour feedback?Show answer
Warmer air holds more water vapour, which is itself a greenhouse gas, amplifying warming.
What is ice-albedo feedback?Show answer
Melting sea ice exposes darker ocean, which absorbs more sunlight, accelerating warming.
What is cloud feedback?Show answer
Different cloud types either warm or cool.
What is confusing greenhouse effect with ozone hole?Show answer
Different physics, different gases, different consequences.
What is treating "greenhouse" as a literal greenhouse?Show answer
Real glass greenhouses warm mainly by preventing convective heat loss, not by re-radiating infrared. The atmospheric greenhouse mechanism is dominated by the radiation effect.
What is forgetting that all radiation must obey energy balance?Show answer
At equilibrium, the rate of energy input equals the rate of energy output. Climate change is a non-equilibrium response to a forcing.
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