Week 14: Greenhouse Gases

Lab: 

Science of  Climate Change Video Notes: 

  • Extreme climate events are becoming more common and more severe
  •  2010-2020 was the hottest decade ever
  • The carbon dioxide concentration fluctuates because vegetation grows, absorbing more CO2, and when it dies, it releases more CO2 and doesn't absorb as much. 
  • Scientists are using Antarctic ice cores to discover the greenhouse gas concentrations of the past. Air bubbles are trapped in the ice, and they can use that to see how CO2 emissions have gone up. They can also see the temperature record from within the ice. 
    • From this research, temperature and CO2 emissions are undoubtedly related.
  • The rise in carbon emissions is because of the burning of fossil fuels. They know this because of the different carbon molecules from fossil fuels and naturally occurring carbon molecules. 
  • We have the solutions to climate change, but we just have to ACT. 
The Greenhouse Effect:
  • Methane and Carbon Dioxide are the most common greenhouse gases
    • Water vapor is also a greenhouse gas
  • Some solar radiation is reflected by the Earth and the atmosphere. 
    • Most Radiation is absorbed by the Earth's surface and warms it. 
PhET Simulation: 
  • Visible Light Photon just passes through all the molecules
  • Infrared Photons get absorbed by the greenhouse gas molecules and shoot every which way, but don't with the nitrogen or oxygen molecules. 
Pressbook:

Lecture: 
- The temperature of the Earth has always fluctuated naturally
- Two natural contributors to climate change are solar and volcanic forcing, but those two factors have had no significant change over time. This proves that humans have had the most significant impact. 
- High albedo means that something is more reflective, low albedo = less reflective

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