Q1: Understanding Earth’s energy balance is essential to understanding the issue of global warming. For example, the solar energy striking Earth’s surface averages 168 watts per square meter (W/m²), But the energy leaving Earth’s surface averages 390 W/m². Why isn’t Earth cooling rapidly?
The atmosphere retains much of the energy radiated by the surface of the Earth known as “Green house effect”.
Q2: Do you think the statement made by the cartoon is justified.
The quote is not justified and it’s meant to make fun of people who are ignorant about global warming and don’t know the difference between weather and climate. Just because there are particular seasons in regions that are cold, like winter, it doesn’t mean that that earth is getting cooler. Climate describes the typical and average weather a region will have over long period of time, like 30 years or more. This is why scientists use climate for statistics about earth’s temperature and whether it’s getting warmer or colder. Weather on the other hand isn’t reliable and it’s nothing more than the condition of the atmosphere over a short period of time.
TEAM QUESTIONS SESSION 3
Q3: One of the first radar devices developed during the World Ward II used microwave radiation of a specific wave range that triggers the rotation of water molecules. Why was the design not successful?
The way sonar works is that it hits something without interactions with it. Thus no energy transfer no energy lost means that the energy will be transferred back to the sonar detector. But if the wave do cause rotation of the water molecules, the energy will dissipates and thus there will not be any returning waves.
Q4: Now that you studied air quality (Unit 1), stratospheric ozone depletion (Unit 2) and global warming (Unit 3), which do you believe poses the most serious problem for you in the short run? In the long run?
Short run: (Unit 1) Air quality poses the most serious problem because the pollution from incomplete combustion cause the air quality to be bad in the near future. Bad air quality harms human’s heath, which is undesirable.
Long run: (Unit 2) Ozone depletes as it takes time for the ozone to be depleted and causes UV- rays from sun to reach the Earth. It has many harmful effects on human such as skin cancer, etc. As a result, global warming (Unit 3) occurs, resulting in more harmful effects such as flooding and global change in temperature.