Greenhouse Gases and Their Disastrous Effects on Our Planet

Is global warming a hoax or a scientific fact?Numerous researches done by scientists all over the world come to the same conclusion: the ambient temperature has gradually risen over the last 150 years, and global warming is a reality. Scientists believe that the increased greenhouse gas is a major contribution to the global warming.

What are greenhouse gases?

Greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. These greenhouse gases allow the short-wavelength sunlight to go through, but strongly absorb the infrared radiation. The trapping of the long wavelength radiation leads to a higher temperature, a phenomenon called greenhouse effect. The major atmospheric constituents, nitrogen and oxygen, are not greenhouse gases. Studies show that carbon dioxide accounts for 75 percent of all greenhouse gases.

In the early 20th century, researchers recognized that major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, caused the earth’s temperature to be higher than it would have been without the greenhouse gases.

Burning fossil fuels contributes to the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Studies have been conducted on the ice cores from Antarctica. The data show that before industrial emissions started, atmospheric CO2 concentrations were about 280 parts per million by volume (ppm). Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, greenhouse gas concentrations have increased significantly. The levels of CO2 has increased by about 100 ppm (i.e., from 280 ppm to 380 ppm).

Research Data from the Climate Research Unit in UK indicate that atmospheric temperature has increased significantly since 1910. Data from US National Climatic Data Center also indicate a steady increasing trend for the mean temperature in the northern hemisphere.

These are evidences of global warming!

Potential consequences of global warming are disastrous, including loss of snow cover, sea level rise, change in weather patterns, extinction of certain species, etc.

How Does Greenhouse Gases Warm Up the Earth?

When sunlight strikes the surface of the Earth, some of it is reflected back into space in the form of heat. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide traps the heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Greenhouse gases regulate the Earth’s heat so the Earth doesn’t become too cold, but too much greenhouse gases could create problems for organisms on Earth.

The Purpose of My Research Project

The purpose of my research project is to find out if the presence of carbon dioxide can delay the heat loss from sandy soil or not. To do that, I will create two micro-systems with sand (two plastic bottles with sand), one with carbon dioxide, and the other without carbon dioxide. I will heat the two systems to a certain temperature, and measure the heat losses in the two systems simultaneously. The results of my experiment will be useful to understand the greenhouse gas effect, and could be used as evidence that increased carbon dioxide concentrations could cause global warming!

My Hypothesis

Based on my research, carbon dioxide can absorb the infrared radiation, thus slow down the process of heat loss from the soil. Therefore, my hypothesis is: the decrease of temperature in the sand containerized in the bottle with carbon dioxide will be significantly slower than that in the bottle without carbon dioxide.