The greenhouse effect is a process that warms the planets temperature to warmer than it would be without an atmosphere. It makes the planet a comfortable place to live. It works like a greenhouse or glasshouse that is used to grow fruit and vegetables. A greenhouse stays warm inside, even during the winter. In the daytime, sunlight shines into the greenhouse and warms the plants and air inside. At nighttime, it's colder outside, but the greenhouse stays pretty warm inside. That's because the glass walls of the greenhouse trap the Sun's heat.The greenhouse effect in the atmosphere works in a similar way, gases in the atmosphere like carbon dioxide trap the heat on the atmosphere causing it to warm. During the day, the Sun shines through the atmosphere. Earth's surface warms up in the sunlight. At night, Earth's surface cools, releasing heat back into the air. But some of the heat is trapped by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Humans are impacting on the greenhouse effect by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil that release carbon dioxide and cause the planet to warm even more.