Amazing Albedo

Provided by: American Museum of Natural History |Published on: April 27, 2021

Activity - Outdoors

678910

Scientist Reviewed ↗

Synopsis

This simple, hands-on experiment demonstrates the powerful effect of albedo. Students will learn how albedo affects regional and global temperatures through the reflection and absorption of light energy.
Students will hypothesize what will happen, run the experiment, collect the data, and analyze their results.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Physics, Earth and Space Sciences, Mathematics

Authors: American Museum of Natural History and Rice University

Region: Polar Regions, Global

Languages: English

View Resource

Teaching Materials

Positives

The worksheet includes a place for students to illustrate their conclusions about solar radiation and albedo.

Additional Prerequisites

Each group will need 2 thermometers, black construction paper, white paper, scissors, a stapler, a heat lamp or sunlight, graph paper, and a stopwatch or timer.
Teachers may want to remind students to be careful with the heat lamps, which can get very hot.
Students should have a journal or notebook for responding to prompts.

Differentiation

Science classes can use this experiment in a lesson about the electromagnetic spectrum or the properties of light and heat.
Students can have different jobs in their groups. The worksheet suggests that each group should have a captain and a note-taker.
After the experiment, teachers can show this video on the feedback loop that occurs when higher global temperatures cause ocean waters to warm and melt the ice. Then have students think about how to increase albedo in locations around the world as a climate solution.
As an extension, consider using this TED-Ed video on how the loss of albedo in the Arctic will cause global climate problems and this NASA experiment about how different colors absorb different wavelengths of light.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to discover, interpret, and disseminate information about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe through a wide-ranging program of scientific research, education, and exhibition.

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.

Learn about our review process →