The greenhouse effect

Standards

• MS-ESS3-5 Causes of rising global temperatures
• HS-ESS2-4 Energy flow and changes in climate

Game. Grades 6 to 12. Question sets for middle school, high school, and upper high school.

How the game works

Students play one photon. They aim it down from the Sun; it passes through the air and warms the ground, unless a cloud or snow bounces it back to space. The warm ground sends the energy back up as infrared, and students aim again, for space. Nitrogen and oxygen let infrared through; water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and clouds catch it and send it on in a random direction, often back down to warm the ground again.

What is simplified

• The game shows far more water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane than real air has (about 4 carbon dioxide molecules in every 10,000), so each one stands for many.
• Real photons travel many kilometers before meeting a molecule that catches them, and whether one is caught depends on its wavelength. Here a photon is caught when its path touches a molecule.
• In the lower air, a molecule that catches infrared usually passes the energy to its neighbors by bumping into them, and the warmed air glows infrared of its own. The game shows that as the molecule sending the photon on.
• The shares on the cards are of energy, from NASA’s Earth energy budget (CERES): about 48% of sunlight warms the ground, 29% is reflected, and about 10% of the ground’s infrared escapes straight to space.

Run it with a class

Pick the questions, get a class code, and watch answers arrive live. Students need only a first name.