Have you ever been in a greenhouse? Or some people call them "hot houses"? These special houses are made to absorb the heat from the Sun and keep it trapped inside so gardeners and farmers can grow crops all year long, even through the winter. I think greenhouses are cool and such a good idea! Well, did you know that in our atmosphere there are gases that work the same way as a greenhouse? They can trap heat just like glass or plastic, or any clear, transparent material. (Spsss! That's why they are called "greenhouse gases"...) The above demonstration shows how "greenhouse gases" act with energy from the sun and what kind of consequences can occur if we add more "greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere. These gases let sunlight in, but they don't let the heat leave the atmosphere. The most abundant "greenhouse gas" is water vapor. This vapor mixed with carbon dioxide, methane and ozone can make a pretty thick blanket of gas to keep warmth in. Actually, the Earth needs "greenhouse gases". If we didn't have greenhouse gases, the average temperature on the Earth's surface would be 0 degrees Fahrenheit! And that's way too cold for me, you and most every animal, insect and bacteria on the planet! With the greenhouse effect we have today, in our day, 2019, the Earth's average surface temperature is about 59 degrees Fahrenheit, which is perfect for all the life forms that populate the Earth today. From bacteria to virus to insect to fish to reptile to mammal to us! We can live here easily. So green house gases are good! If we lived on Venus that would be a different story... This is what worries scientists...will Earth one day be like Venus? How long would it take to become like Venus? And our WE speeding up our destiny to be like Venus? These are some of the driving questions that scientists are testing today, on Earth, and the results are interesting and terrifying....
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |