Question

planet venus is the brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon. one of the reasons for this is that venus has very high albedo, 0.7, meaning it reflects 70% of the sunlight that hits the planet. earth on the other hand has an albedo of 0.3, meaning that only 30% of the sunlight is being reflected out, and the rest is being absorbed. the temperature on venus is very high, in order of 400 c, compared to earth that is around 17 c(on average). based on the above, what do you conclude ? higher albedo

Answer 1

Despite its high albedo, Venus has a very high surface temperature due to the greenhouse effect from its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere and sulfuric acid clouds, illustrating that albedo and temperature are not directly correlated.

Step-by-step explanation:

The planet Venus is known for its high albedo of 0.7, meaning it reflects about 70% of the sunlight that it receives. This high reflectivity is one of the reasons Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. Yet, despite its high albedo, Venus has an incredibly high surface temperature of around 400°C, much hotter than Earth’s average temperature of approximately 17°C. This extreme heat is largely due to the greenhouse effect caused by its thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid, which trap heat and prevent it from escaping back into space. Thus, we can conclude that a high albedo does not necessarily correlate with lower surface temperatures, particularly in the presence of a strong atmospheric greenhouse effect.