462-b/24 Why Greenhouse gases "trap heat" from the sun, draft

462/24 - Global warming and Energy Transition. draft 

When scientists talk about greenhouse gases “trapping heat” in the atmosphere, they’re actually talking about how these gases interact with infrared light. That’s because energy from the sun enters the Earth as a mix of visible, ultraviolet and infrared light, but it leaves the Earth almost entirely in the infrared.

Some molecules—the greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4)—can grab infrared light on its way out.1 “So what happens is that infrared energy gets absorbed by the molecule,” says Desiree Plata, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the MIT Methane Network. “And that molecule enters an excited state. As it's relaxing back down, it releases some of that energy as heat, and that heat can go to outer space or can come back to planet Earth.”

This is the reason the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is warming our planet. 

https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/what-makes-methane-more-potent-greenhouse-gas-carbon-dioxide#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAnd%20because%20there%20are%20so,of%20even%20stronger%20greenhouse%20gases.