The Greenhouse Effect Interactive Simulation
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Provided by: PhET Interactive Simulations|Published on: April 27, 2021
Activity - ClassroomScientist Reviewed
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Scientist Reviewed 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 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.
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
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.
Learn about our review process →
