Wednesday, 01 April 2009

• Is Man Mainly Responsible For the Rising Temperature of the Atmosphere?

  NEW ERA UNIVERSITY

  No.9 Central Avenue New Era, Quezon City

   

   

  College of Arts and Sciences

  Department of Mass Communication

  
  

  A Research Paper in:

  Natural Science3- Environmental Management

  
  

  Submitted by:

  ALACAPA, Regine N.

  PUCAN, Kimberly C.

  SONGCO, Elaine Joy F.

   
  

  Submitted to:

  Prof. Jose Malabuyoc

   

   

  October 2008

   

   HYPOTHESIS

  Man is mainly responsible for the rising temperature of the atmosphere.

   

   

   

  RESEARCH BODY

   

   

              The greenhouse effect is a natural process. The atmosphere traps the sun’s energy, warming the earth enough to support life. Most scientists believe a HUMAN-driven increase in “greenhouse gases” is increasing the effect artificially. These gases includes carbon dioxide which is being emitted by the fossil fuel burning, deforestation and methane released from rice paddies and landfill sites.

   

  How the greenhouse effect works:

   

  1. The heat coming from the sun beats down on the earth. We know that sun gives us light and

      warmth, it’s rays are beating towards the earth. The Sun is by far the largest object in the

      solar system.

  2. Some of the heat bounces back into space and the rest is absorbed the land, oceans and

      atmosphere for the needs of man and other living things. Some of sun’s heat is being

      absorbed by the living things who are, basically needing it.

  3. The surface that is being beaten by the sun’s heat warms it and re-emitted at longer,

      infrared wavelengths. Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength

      is longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of terahertz radiation and

      microwaves. Far infrared waves are thermal. In other words, we experience this type of

      infrared radiation every day in the form of heat. The heat that we feel from sunlight, a fire, a

      radiator or a warm sidewalk is infrared.

  4. Some of the energy goes out into space, and some is being absorbed and re-emitted by

      trace atmospheric gases. Trace atmospheric gases are re-emitting the sun’s heat.

  5. These “greenhouse gases” are presently naturally, but HUMAN ACTIVITY is increasing their

      concentrations. Because of human activity like industrial activities, the greenhouse gases

      are increasing in concentrations. Greenhouse gases are essential to maintaining the

      temperature of the Earth; without them the planet would be so cold as to be uninhabitable.

  6. Carbon dioxide and methane are ”tuned” to absorb energy at infrared wavelengths. The

      burning of coal, oil, and gas, known as fossil fuels, is the primary source of increasing

      carbon dioxide emissions. Methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than

      carbon dioxide. When related climate affects are taken into account, methane’s overall

      climate impact is nearly half that of carbon dioxide.

  7. The energy from the gas molecules is re-emitted in all directions which warms the

      atmosphere.

  8. Some of this energy goes out into space, but some is directed back to the surface to warm it

      still further. Not all the sun’s heat is being bounced back into space, but some are directed

      back to the surface of the earth to warm it further.

  9. As the greenhouse gases increases in the atmosphere, they tend to work to increase the

      temperature at the surface. This gives the earth a rising temperature. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/sci_nat/04/climate_change/html/greenhouse.stm).

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