1. Greenhouse Gas Demonstration

2. Greenhouse Gasses
Most of the air in the atmosphere is made of nitrogen and oxygen gasses
These gasses do not absorb radiation from the Earth’s surface
The gasses that cause the greenhouse effect exist in very low concentrations in the atmosphere

3. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and water vapor (H20) are three of the major greenhouse gases.
When the radiant energy from the sun travels through the Earth’s atmosphere and strikes the surface of the Earth, some of that energy is radiated back as thermal energy and infrared energy that will leave the atmosphere, but much of it is absorbed by the greenhouse gases.

5. Carbon Dioxide CO2
Earth’s atmosphere contains only 385 ppm (parts per million) carbon dioxide, or %.
This is just a small percentage of all the gases in the atmosphere.
However, carbon dioxide is estimated to cause up to a quarter of the natural greenhouse effect on Earth.

6. Carbon Dioxide CO2
Before the industrial age, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 280 ppm.
Natural sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide include volcanic eruptions, the burning of organic matter, and cellular respiration of plants and animals

7. Water Vapour H2O
About two-thirds of the Earth’s natural greenhouse effect is caused by water vapour in the atmosphere
The quantity of atmospheric water vapour depends on the temperature of the atmosphere and varies from trace amounts to about 4%
How are water vapour and temperature related?

8. Methane CH4
There is much less methane in the atmosphere than there is carbon dioxide.
However, a molecule of methane can absorb much more thermal energy than a molecule of carbon dioxide.
As a result, a molecule of methane is about 23 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than a molecule of carbon dioxide.

9. Methane CH4
Methane, like carbon dioxide, comes from both natural and human source.
It is produced naturally by biological processes such as plant decomposition in swamps and animal digestion
Before the industrial age, the concentration of Methane in the atmosphere was ppm.
It has now risen to ppm

10. Methane CH4
Methane, like carbon dioxide, comes from both natural and human source.
It is produced naturally by biological processes such as plant decomposition in swamps and animal digestion
Before the industrial age, the concentration of Methane in the atmosphere was ppm.
It has now risen to ppm

11. Using the model kits create the following molecules
Water Vapour H2O
Carbon Dioxide CO2
Oxygen O2
Nitrogen N2
Methane CH4
Using the model kits create the following molecules

12. The Earth's atmosphere is composed of around 78 percent nitrogen gas (N2), which has a triple bond between the nitrogen atoms, and 21 percent oxygen gas (O2), which has a double bond between the oxygen atoms.
The energy is stored within the movement of those molecules.
Nitrogen gas and oxygen gas do not have a great deal of flexibility in the vibrations, rotation, expansion, and contraction of the bonds within the molecule.

13. There is a great deal of flexibility in the bonds of water, methane, and carbon dioxide, while there is very little in the flexibility of the other gases in the atmosphere.
Hold the central atom in the structures of water, carbon dioxide, and methane, apply a slight force to the atoms attached to the central atom
What is the result?
What does this mean?