Day 49

Investigation 9 parts 3 & 4Global Warming

Introduce Global Warming

• Has anyone heard of Global Warming?

• What would happen if Phoenix, Arizona or the whole Earth got warmer?

Assign reading

• Read, Is Earth Getting Warmer?, pg 63-66

• Which parts of the reading did you find most interesting?

• Which parts of the reading would you like to learn more about?

Relative Scale

Visualization Exercise 9.4

Resources, P. 50

Global Warming

• One concern for scientists is the possibility that the Earth is warming.

• Over the past 100 years, the Earth’s average global air temperature has risen 0.6 0C

Global Warming

• The 4 warmest yrs occurred in the 1990’s

• Scientists don’t think that it takes much change in the average temperature of Earth to cause big changes in the environment

Global Warming

What effects do you think global warming could have on the Earth?

Global Change and Weather

• One effect of Global warming could be the way that the Earth’s water is distributed

• We are going to play the Water-Cycle Game that takes into account a global temperature increase of 2-5 0C (4-90F)

Analyze Results

• Transparency 24, Water Cycle Game

• Record Data

• Compare results to Trial 1 and 2

Analyze Results

• Notice that water molecules spend more time in the atmosphere or in a liquid environment, rather than as ice

Make Predictions

• Predict what would happen if you continue the Water-Cycle Game with global-warming rules to a total of 25 spins

Consider Global Warming

• How can global warming affect the water cycle and the movement of water about the Earth?