Lab Report Template - Week Four PDF

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CLIMATE CHANGE LABORATORY Brittany Tipton SCI 207: Our Dependence Upon the Environment Jody Emeterio February 3, 2020

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Climate Change Laboratory Introduction Global climate change has always been a much-debated topic, but as the years go by, scientists have been able to prove that climate change and global warming is a growing issue. This lab will investigate how the roles of the oceans and greenhouse gasses affect the earth’s climate change. Solomon, Daniel, Sanford, Murphy, Plattner, Knutti, Friedlingstein & Hansen (2010) “explored why the persistence of warming depends not just on the decay of a given greenhouse gas concentration but also climate system behavior.” They found that even if everyone were to reduce their carbon emissions, climate change would continue to be a problem because of the damage that has already been done. This lab is meant to show what kind of effects the oceans and greenhouse gases play in climate change of the earth’s atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is a process that affects how cool or warm the earth gets. Due to all the harmful gases being released into the atmosphere, the earth’s temperature is gradually rising, which is also described as global climate change. This lab will explore the different factors that are causing global climate change. There were three different activities, the first being an activity that modeled the greenhouse effect, the second activity is a model of the albedo effect, and the third activity is an observation on the rising sea level due to the melting of sea ice and glacial ice. For the first activity, the hypotheses were that the thermostat located in the cup with the plastic cover would show a higher temperature due to the plastic holding in the heat. The second activity the hypotheses was that the thermostat located inside of the cup with a foil cover would have a higher temperature because the foil is meant to keep heat contained. For the last activity, the

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hypotheses were that the water level would be the same for the melting sea ice as well as the melting glacial ice. Materials and Methods Activity One: The materials I used for a model of the greenhouse effect were as follows one foam cup, two thermometers, 1 square of plastic wrap, one rubber band, and a heating lamp due to not having direct sunlight. I placed the plastic wrap over the top of the cup and secured it in place with the rubber band. I then used my pen to poke a hole in the top of the plastic wrap and placed my thermometer directly into the hold and made sure there was a firm fit. Next, I placed the cup under the heating lamp as well as my bare thermometer and took the temperature of both thermometers every minute until both of the thermometers read the same degree twice.

Activity Two:

The materials I used for the model of the albedo effect were as follows two foam cups, two thermometers, 1 square piece of black construction paper, 1 square piece of aluminum foil, clear tape, 150 mL of tap water and a heating lamp. I have begun with filling each foam cup with 150 mL of tap water. Next, I placed the black piece of construction paper over one cup and secured it into place with clear tape, I then proceeded to cover the other foam cup with my aluminum foil and squeezed it over the top to secure it into place. The next step was to take my pin and puncture a hole in the top of the cup with the black cover as well as the top of the cup with the aluminum cover. Once I had the thermometers snug in each cup, I placed them both

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under the heating lamp and recorded the temperature of both thermometers every minute until they both had the same temperature twice.

Activity Three:

The materials I used for the sea level rise activity were as follows four small and identical ice cubes; two graduated cylinders; and one funnel. The first step to this activity was to take one graduated cylinder and put 50 mL of tap water into the cylinder, and when you place two of your four ice cubes into the cylinder. Once the ice cubes had fully melted, you would record the final volume. The second step to this activity is to take your other cylinder and fill it up with 50 mL of tap water. You then place the funnel into the top of the cylinder and follow with placing the remaining two ice cubes into the funnel. Once the ice cubes have melted into the cylinder from the funnel, you record your final volume of water in the cylinder.

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Results Data Tables:

Modeling Albedo Time

Temperature of water (black cover)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10 10 15 15 20 20 21 22

Modeling the Green House Effect Time (min) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Bare Thermometer © 19 20 21 24 28 31 35

Thermometer in Cup © 19 45 52 73 76 80 80

Activity One

Activity Two Sea Ice, Glacial Ice, and Sea Level Rise Initial Final Water Change in Water Water Volume Volume (Final Volume After Ice Volume - Initial (ML) Melt (mL) Volume) (mL) Melting Sea Ice (ice cubes in graduated cylinder) Melting Glacial Ice (ice cubes in funnel)

75

75

0

50

75

25

Activity Three

Temperature of water (aluminum cover) 10 10 17 18 20 22 23 23

Difference 0 0 2 3 0 2 2 1

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Graphs:

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Photographs: Activity One

Activity Two

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Activity Three

Discussion Activity One: My hypotheses for the modeling of the greenhouse effect was that the thermometer placed in the cup with the plastic cover would have a higher temperature reading then the bare thermometer. I found that the thermometer in the cup almost doubled in the temperature reading compared to the bare thermometer. I agree with my hypotheses because the plastic cover kept the heat in a confined area, which caused the temperature on the thermometer to rise quickly. My hypotheses are supported because the data I gathered showed that each minute the temperature of the thermometer in the cup was significantly higher than the bare thermometer. Activity Two: My hypotheses for the modeling of the albedo effect was that the thermometer placed in the cup with the foil cover would be higher than the thermometer placed in the cup with the black cover. I found that the temperature of the thermometer in the cup with the black cover and the thermometer in the cup with the aluminum foil cover stayed pretty consistent with one

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another. I reject my hypotheses because the temperature in both cups was only off by a few degrees to one another. My finding does not support my hypotheses because there was no major difference in the temperature that I recorded. Activity Three: My hypotheses for the model of rising sea levels due to melting sea ice and glacial ice was that both cylinders would result in the same amount of volume added from the melting ice. Once I completed my activity, I found that both cylinders did end up with 75 mL of water once the ice melted. The first cylinder without the funnel stayed at 75 mL when the ice cubes were first placed in it as well as after the ice cubes had completely melted. The second cylinder went from 50 mL of water to 75 mL of water once the ice cubes melted into the funnel. I accept my hypotheses because I found that no matter the method, both cylinders rose by 25 mL once the ice had completely melted. My hypotheses are supported by the data I gathered before the ice was placed into the cylinders and after the ice and melted and gone into the cylinders. All three activities have taught me that global climate change is a real thing and that if we do not attempt to do something about it, it will only continue to get worse. The first activity taught me that all the harmful gasses that are pumped into the earth’s atmosphere would continue to cause the earth's temperature to rise, causing devastating effects. The second activity taught me that if the sea ice and glacial ice continue to melt at the rate that it is, the temperature of the earth will continue to rise as well because the earth-sun rays will not be reflected into space. The third and final activity taught me that melting sea ice and glacial ice could cause a major problem because even a little bit of ice melting can raise sea levels higher, causing damaging effects. I ran into a couple of issues during the second activity because I could not seem to get my thermometer in either cup to rise in temperature all that much. As instructed, I used cold tap

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water in both of my cups, and I feel like that was the reason I did not see the temperature move on either thermometer. I thought about using warm water but decided against it because the thermometer would already have a higher reading due to the warm water. After completing this lab, I am curious to learn more about the albedo effect because I was not able to get an accurate reading when I attempted the activity. In future activity’s maybe if the instructions could explain whether or not to use room temperature, cold or warm tap water in the cups, it would be easier to understand why the rise in the thermometers was so slow.

References ALDERMAN, L., & Bjarnason, E. (2019, August 12). A World Without Ice? Iceland Is Preparing. New York Times, p. B1. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxylibrary.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=138063014&site=edslive&scope=site

Susan Solomon, John S. Daniel, Todd J. Sanford, Daniel M. Murphy, Gian-Kasper Plattner, Reto Knutti, … James E. Hansen. (2010). Persistence of climate changes due to a range of greenhouse gases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(43), 18354. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxylibrary.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.25748493&site=edslive&scope=site...