Enhanced greenhouse effect – a hot international topic

Activity 1

Temperature increases in a mini-greenhouse

Materials (for the class)

  • 3 identical containers (eg, shoeboxes or 4-litre ice-cream containers)
  • scissors
  • sheet of clear plastic (approximately 15 centimetres × 15 centimetres)
  • sheet of glass (approximately 15 centimetres × 15 centimetres)
  • thermometer
  • plasticine

Procedure

  1. Cut out a large rectangle or square from the lid of each container.
  2. Use sticky tape to fix a sheet of clear plastic over the opening in the lid of the first container.
  3. Put a sheet of glass over the second container and leave the third one open.
  4. Make a small hole through which a thermometer can be inserted in one side of each container.
  5. Leave the containers in sunlight and record the temperature inside each container every 5 minutes for 20 minutes. (You can plug the hole for the thermometer with plasticine when you are not measuring the temperature.)
  6. Graph the results and write a few lines about what you conclude from your results.

Teachers notes

If you have three thermometers, you can leave a thermometer in each box and record the three temperatures at 5-minute intervals. A different version of this activity can be found in Investigating (Australian Primary and Junior Science Journal), August 1997, pages 6-7.

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Posted September 1997.