The Greenhouse Effect Interactive Simulation

Provided by: PhET Interactive Simulations |Published on: April 27, 2021

Activity - Classroom

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Scientist Reviewed ↗

Synopsis

This interactive virtual experiment demonstrates the effect greenhouse gases and clouds have on infrared radiation, photons, and global temperatures.
Students can engage with the simulation on three pages including the greenhouse effect, glass layers, and photon absorption.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Chemistry, Physics, Earth and Space Sciences

Authors: PhET Interactive Simulations

Region: Global

Languages: English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, German, Dutch, Bulgarian, Italian, Turkish, Polish, Portuguese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Persian, Basque, Bosnian, Croatian, Danish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Lithuanian, Mongolian, Serbian, Slovak, Thai, Turkmen, Afan Oromo, Albanian, Amharic, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Catalan, Gujarati, Hausa, Hindi, Icelandic, Igbo, Kinyarwanda, Malay, Nyanja, Swahili, Telugu, Tigrinya, Twi, Uzbek, Yoruba, Zulu, Czech, Finnish, Slovenian, Sotho, Swedish, Tamil, Ganda, Kikuyu, Maltese, Maori

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Teaching Materials

Positives

It includes tips for teachers, teacher-submitted activities, and translations in nearly fifty languages.
There are different adjustable settings including time period, greenhouse gas concentration, number of clouds, and simulation speed.

Prerequisites

The simulation can be accessed instantly, but in order to access the teaching tips and teacher-submitted activities, you must first create a free account with PhET Interactive Simulations.
The "About" section provides topics that students should be familiar with before interacting with the simulation.
You may need to download the Java version to access the full simulation.

Differentiation & Implementation

The activities section has nearly thirty teacher-submitted activities for students and can be filtered by level, type, subject, and language.
The thermometer is available in Fahrenheit, Kelvin, and Celsius.
Students in chemistry classes can build their own atmospheres on the photon absorption simulation page.
A lesson on this topic is Heating It Up: The Chemistry of the Greenhouse Effect.
Other resources related to this topic include Greenhouse Effect and Greenhouse Effect - Investigating Global Warming.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

PhET Interactive Simulations

PhET Interactive Simulations at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

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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The Greenhouse Effect Interactive Simulation

Synopsis

Teaching Materials

About the Partner Provider

Scientist Reviewed

Related Teaching Resources