In addition to reflected energy, most of the energy that gets soaked up on the light side of the planet continues to get radiated away during the night. That sort of balances it out. Then, depending on how well the atmosphere is capable of insulating Earth (increasingly well due to build up of aptly named greenhouse gases), the planet settles into an equilibrium state and that's the temperature we experience on average.
fromagionado t1_jcmszjn wrote
Reply to Energy can not dissappear or be created, only change form, right? Earth is blasted by the sun 24/7, where does the excess energy go, because I guess it doesn't stay here or we'd cook by mr_greenmash
In addition to reflected energy, most of the energy that gets soaked up on the light side of the planet continues to get radiated away during the night. That sort of balances it out. Then, depending on how well the atmosphere is capable of insulating Earth (increasingly well due to build up of aptly named greenhouse gases), the planet settles into an equilibrium state and that's the temperature we experience on average.