Heat: Workings of Heat
Provided by: Probable Futures|Published on: January 31, 2022|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Ebooks
Subjects: Chemistry, Physics, English Language Arts
Authors: Probable Futures
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- This digital text tells a story about how something simple, like an asphalt road, will be impacted as global temperatures rise above the range of temperatures that the road was designed for.
- Students will learn how the heat of the sun affects the road and the global climate, prompting them to think about the potential impacts of a changing climate on infrastructure, people, and other living things.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- There is an option to listen to the text being read, which is an excellent differentiation tool.
- The article is short and uses one main example that students can related with.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should know the term Holocene and should be familiar with the chemical formulas for the major greenhouse gases.
Differentiation
- Social Studies classes could consider what other assumptions about the Holocene climate have been engineered into aspects of our civilizations. How could these assumptions be problematic as temperatures rise?
- This resource lends itself well to a discussion in pairs, groups, or as a whole class. What did students find surprising? How did this resource change their understanding?
- Science classes can connect this resource to lessons about albedo, differences in the properties of materials, melting glaciers, and climate solutions such as insulation, painting roofs white, planting urban trees, and using permeable materials for roads and sidewalks.
- Other related resources include Planetary Balance, A Tour of Temperature, and Maps of Temperature.
The resource illustrates the impact of radiant heat on asphalt roads, the road is viewed as a black body that absorbs solar radiation and re-emits IR back to the atmosphere where it is trapped. This process causes further warming on the Earth's surface and can cause asphalt roads to degrade over time. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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