Week of December 2nd

 During lab we talked about our past "talking with an elder" assignment that we did over break. We learned that a lot of the people we talked to were not very well informed on what was happening around the world. We then saw that carbon has a higher levels during winter than summer as more people are driving since it's so cold and there are less plants during the winter. We also looked at a graph that shows the carbon dioxide molecules are increasing in the atmosphere over time. We then watched a video called "science of climate change". In this video we saw that CO2 was overall rising by scientists taking air samples around the world. We saw how much the industrial revolution has effect CO2 concentrations. We then worked on the PhET simulations. We saw that during visible light it just goes right through the gases, and during infrared light it either aborsbs, reflects, or goes right through the gases. We then watched a video about what greenhouse gases are. 

As I was reading the pressbook, I learned more about Earth's atmosphere which is layers of mainly oxygen and nitrogen. There are also certain gases in earth's atmosphere that is called greenhouse gases. These gases let sunlight to reach the surface of Earth and then trap its heat into the atmosphere. The main greenhouse gases are oxygen,  hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. Greenhouse gases are complex molecules made of three or more atoms bonded together. Gases move quickly and collide with other molecules in the atmosphere. This causes greenhouse gas molecules to vibrate and have an asymmetrical shape. It then talked about the greenhouse effect; which is how greenhouse gases trap heat in the earth's atmosphere (absorbed by land/water or reflected by ice). It then talked about how Earth's atmosphere is compared to a blanket that is wrapped around the planet. The planet needs its "blanket" to survive in outer space but, when there are more and more greenhouse gases they radiate more heat than normal causing its "blanket" to get thicker and thicker making global temperatures to increase. It then also talked about the albedo effect which is the amount of energy that is reflected by the surface; darker materials=absorb heat, lighter materials=reflect heat. Another topic brought up was the carbon cycle in earth's atmosphere (image below). Carbon dioxide is measured by ppm (parts per minute). Lastly, I learned more about ice cores. Scientists use ice cores (sample of ice) to gather data about CO2 levels over time. Ice cores are caused with the Law of Superposition. They can dig deeper in the ice to the "older" ice sheets and compare them to the newer ice sheets that are closer to the surface of earth. 

During lecture we talked about the CO2 changes over time. We saw that they fluctuate over time but recently the levels have been so high. We saw that the temperature of the earth has NOT been stable. We then looked at the sources of natural variability which are the sun and volcanos. These are the 2 dominant natural contributors to global climate change during the Industrial era, there has been no significant changes leaving HUMANS being the cause. We then talked about the Albedo Effect where it is a positive feedback cycle where it will either reflect the ice or absorb the heat. The big question we talked about was: what is the albedo effect and how does it affect climate? Albedo 1= completely reflects radiation and Albedo 0= completely absorbed radiation. The pre-assessment questions: Do you think you will feel hotter standing in a field of grass or in the middle of downtown Iowa city? We then talked about finding out Carbon footprint and talked about solar panels.

Photos:

carbon cycle

PhET simulation results