We can use the conservation of energy to calculate the Earth's planetary temperature. In this equation, R 2 p and 4R 2 p represent the area of a sphere and the area of a disk. The Earth's area that receives solar radiation at any given time turns out to have the shape of a disk. Some of the energy Earth receives from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic energy pass undisturbed, some are absorbed by the atmosphere, and the rest are turned back. Oxygen, ozone, water vapor, carbon dioxide and dust are the most important absorbers of shortwave length energy from the Sun and longwave radiation emitted by by the Earth.
Small particles act as obstacles to the paths of radiant radiation.
The atmosphere preferentially scatters visible light at the shortest wavelengths, which happens to be blue. The radiant energy from the Sun encounters clouds in the atmosphere which act to reflect back some of the energy. Albedo describes the reflectivity of a surface. It is the fraction of radiation reflected by a surface. Describes the radiation that is not absorbed, scattered, or reflected, but makes it to the Earth's surface unobstructed.