A reading to learn about the energy balance of planet Earth and to understand atmospheric warming by using a single-layer atmosphere model.
Students will learn about emissivity and absorptivity. Further, they will learn about the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere by calculating the temperature of a bare blackbody earth and the temperature of a blackbody earth with a 1-layer atmosphere.
Use this tool to help your students find answers to:
- Define emissivity.
- Explain the difference between a blackbody and a greybody.
- “An atmosphere that absorbs and re-emits some of the radiation from a planet’s surface results in a surface that is warmer than if there were no atmosphere.” Discuss and explain with the help of a single-layer atmosphere model.
About the Tool
Tool Name | ACS Climate Science Toolkit | How Atmospheric Warming Works |
Discipline | Earth Sciences |
Topic(s) in Discipline | Greenhouse Effect; Planetary Energy Balance; Blackbody Radiation; Stefan-Boltzman Law |
Climate Topic | The Greenhouse Effect; Climate and the Atmopshere |
Type of Tool | Reading |
Grade Level | Undergraduate |
Location | |
Language | English |
Translation | |
Developed by | ACS Climate Science Toolkit |
Hosted at | American Chemical Society |
Link | https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/atmosphericwarming/singlelayermodel.html |
Access | Online |
Computer Skills | Intermediate |