11.31 What is the Greenhouse Effect?

How can plants be grown during cold seasons? Inside a greenhouse it stays nice and warm even if there are snowmen outside. Learn how Earth is like a giant greenhouse in this lesson.

How Does a Greenhouse Work?

Have you ever left something like a candy bar or a banana in a closed car on a summer day? When you find it, it has usually melted into a soggy mess! What caused it to get so hot in the car? The answer can be found in something called the greenhouse effect, and it works not just inside hot cars, but on the whole Earth.

A Greenhouse
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Our atmosphere, Earth’s protective layer, is made up of different kinds of gasses. Some of these gasses act like a greenhouse. Just like the windows in a car allow the sunlight in but do not allow the heat to get out, a greenhouse works the same way. The clear material of a greenhouse allows the sunlight in so the plants can grow, but the heat that is generated is not able to leave, keeping the plants warm when it may be too cold for them to grow outside.

Most life on Earth can thank this effect, also called the greenhouse effect, for keeping us nice and warm. Without the greenhouse gasses that keep heat trapped inside our atmosphere, most of the heat from the sun would escape right back out into space. This would only be good if you were a snowman.

1. Main points:

The text explains how the greenhouse effect works in a car and on Earth, emphasizing its importance in keeping the Earth warm.

2. Questions:

• Content Analysis: What happens to a candy bar or banana left in a car on a summer day?
• Contextual Analysis: How does the greenhouse effect relate to the atmosphere of Earth?
• Thematic Analysis: What are the benefits of the greenhouse effect mentioned in the text?

3. Further Discussion:

• How do you think life would be different if Earth didn’t have the greenhouse effect?

4. Answers:

• Content Analysis: The candy bar or banana usually “melted into a soggy mess” when left in a car on a summer day.
• Contextual Analysis: The atmosphere of Earth is made up of “different kinds of gasses,” some of which “act like a greenhouse” by keeping heat trapped inside.
• Thematic Analysis: The greenhouse effect keeps us “nice and warm,” and without it, most of the heat from the sun would “escape right back out into space.”

Hope this engages the kids and sparks some interesting discussions!

What are the Greenhouse Gasses?

Can you see air? It’s hard to imagine that air is actually something that has mass and takes up space. But air is actually matter. If you weighed an empty balloon and a balloon full of air, it would show you that air has mass. So what is air made of? Most of our atmosphere (78%) is nitrogen. Nitrogen is not a greenhouse gas. Oxygen makes up the next biggest part (21%). Oxygen is not a greenhouse gas. That means only a very small percent of gasses create the greenhouse effect.

Greenhouse Earth
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Some of the gasses that contribute the most to Earth’s warmth are water, carbon dioxide and methane. These particular gasses allow the sunlight to pass through, warming the Earth, but they keep that heat from escaping right back into space. What do you do when you are cold at night? You put on a blanket, right? Greenhouse gasses are like a blanket for the whole Earth.

1. Main points:

The text discusses the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and identifies the specific gasses that contribute to the greenhouse effect, comparing them to a “blanket” that keeps the Earth warm.

2. Questions:

• Content Analysis: What gasses in our atmosphere contribute to the greenhouse effect?
• Contextual Analysis: How does the text compare greenhouse gasses to something we use in everyday life?
• Linguistic Analysis: What words or phrases are used to make the concept of “greenhouse gasses” relatable?

3. Further Discussion:

• If greenhouse gasses are like a blanket, what do you think could happen if we had too much of these gasses?

4. Answers:

• Content Analysis: The gasses that contribute most to Earth’s warmth are “water, carbon dioxide, and methane.”
• Contextual Analysis: The text compares greenhouse gasses to a “blanket for the whole Earth.”
• Linguistic Analysis: The text uses the phrase “blanket for the whole Earth” to make the concept of “greenhouse gasses” more relatable.

I hope this makes the topic fun and interesting for the kids!

Life with Snowmen

What would it be like without the greenhouse gasses? About a third of the sun’s energy is reflected by our outer atmosphere and never reaches the Earth. Most of the energy that reaches the earth is then reflected back up as heat. Without the greenhouse gasses acting like a blanket, the world would be 15 to 30 degrees colder. That might not sound like much, but for the whole world it’s a lot. That would mean lots of snowmen!

Snowman
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Can there be too much of a good thing? In the case of greenhouse gasses, yes. Some scientists believe humans are creating too many greenhouse gasses through all our activities like energy production, automobile use, factories and agriculture. If we add too many greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, that’s a mighty hot blanket that we can’t kick off. No more snowmen! That theory is known as Global Warming.

1. Main points:

The text explains the consequences of having too little or too much of greenhouse gasses, mentioning that without them the world would be much colder and with too many, we risk global warming.

2. Questions:

• Content Analysis: What would happen to the world’s temperature without greenhouse gasses?
• Socio-cultural Analysis: How are humans contributing to the increase of greenhouse gasses?
• Ideological Analysis: What is the underlying theory that explains the dangers of too many greenhouse gasses?

3. Further Discussion:

• What do you think we can do to help prevent global warming?

4. Answers:

• Content Analysis: Without greenhouse gasses acting like a “blanket,” the world would be “15 to 30 degrees colder.”
• Socio-cultural Analysis: Humans are creating too many greenhouse gasses through “energy production, automobile use, factories, and agriculture.”
• Ideological Analysis: The underlying theory that explains the dangers of too many greenhouse gasses is “Global Warming.”

This should get the kids thinking more about the environment and their role in it!

Lesson Summary

The greenhouse effect is named after the principle of a greenhouse. One percent of the gasses in our atmosphere, like carbon dioxide and methane, create a similar effect as a greenhouse. Sunlight is transferred in through the gas matter, but heat is trapped like a giant blanket. Without the greenhouse effect, Earth would be a lot colder. Too many greenhouse gasses could cause Earth to be too warm and contribute to Global Warming.