One of the experiments my group participated in last Friday demonstrated the greenhouse effect. To better understand the experiment and the results, we first have to know about the greenhouse effect. The earth has a natural greenhouse effect when the sun releases energy to the Earth in the form of light. That is then absorbed and reflected in the form of heat. Although carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring greenhouse gas, we are producing an excess amount of it by our activities like industrial production and transportation. We are making more radiation be caught in our atmosphere, which in turn is raising the earth’s temperature.

Set up for us were three mason jars with plastic covering to exemplify the earth’s atmosphere that is trapping greenhouse gases and raising the earth’s natural temperature. The jars were placed under a heat lamp, demonstrating the sun. One jar had air, one had water(or water vapor), and the third had carbon dioxide made from combining baking soda and vinegar. In the covered jar were thermometers. Every 5 minute interval, for 15 minutes, we read and recorded the temperatures of the jars. Below is our records, all temperatures are in Celsius:

We expected the temperatures all to rise because of the heat lamp, however our results with the carbon dioxide didn’t result in what we thought. Perhaps there was a human error in getting the correct balance or quantity of CO2. All other gases behaved how we anticipated them to.