The Greenhouse Effect, Molecule by Molecule

Lab Brief #1

🎯 Your mission

Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.

⚡ The twist

Weather isn't random — it's just complicated.

What you'll learn

The Sun delivers mostly visible light, which passes through the atmosphere almost untouched; Earth re-radiates that energy as longer-wavelength infrared. Molecules of three or more atoms — carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane — can bend and stretch at infrared frequencies and so absorb it, while nitrogen and oxygen, which together make up 99% of the air, cannot. That is precisely why a trace gas at 0.04% governs the planet's temperature and the overwhelming bulk of the atmosphere does not.

Key words

greenhouse gas
A gas whose molecules can absorb infrared radiation, typically because they have three or more atoms.
infrared radiation
The longer-wavelength radiation Earth emits, which greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit in all directions

Make a hypothesis first

Before you observe: what shape will it leave?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

two clear bottles
thermometers
lamp
stopwatch
graph paper

Get ready

⚠️ Safety first

A lamp gets hot — do not touch the bulb, and keep the bottles from tipping onto it.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "greenhouse gas" and "infrared radiation" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Fill one clear bottle with air and another with exhaled breath, seal a thermometer in each and place both under a lamp. Record temperature every minute for fifteen minutes and plot both curves on one grid.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 3

Nitrogen and oxygen are not greenhouse gases because their molecules:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

Earth re-radiates the Sun's energy mainly as:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

Carbon dioxide affects temperature despite being only 0.04% of the air because it:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🌊 The deepest part of the ocean is deeper than Mount Everest is tall.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: The Ocean Conveyor Moves Heat by Density All lessons

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This is shaping the ground you walk on, slowly, every single day.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find a rock outside and try to guess how old it is.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the slowest change you can think of?”

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The Greenhouse Effect, Molecule by Molecule

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