Causes and Effects of
Rise in Sea Level
Rika Hayashida
Kent Ogisu
Angeleena Romo
Jimin Shin
Overview
1.Definition: Global Warming
2.Black Body Radiation
3.Chemicals in the Atmosphere
4.Marine Life
5.Sinking Islands
6.Reflections
7.Bibliography
Definition: Global Warming
-Rise in CO2 production = earth becomes warmer
-Greenhouse Effect:
• Sun's heat reaches the Earth and the earth reflects it
• Greenhouse gases traps some of the heat
• CO2 production thickens the layer
• Less heat goes past the
goes past the layer
• The Earth's atmosphere
gets warmer
=> Meting of the Ice
Glacier in Argentina
1928
2004
Black Body Radiation
Physical object that absorbs 100% of radiation without any
reflection: "black body"
=> perfect absorber and perfect emitter
Examples:
• Ice (white/shiny) - reflects more radiation
and absorbs less radiation
• Water/ Sea (Black/Dark) - Reflects less
radiation and absorbs more radiation
Experiment:
• One black beaker and one white beaker
• Measured temperatures for an hour
• The water in the black beaker was warmer than the water in
the white beaker.
• Black - 17.0°C, White - 15.5°C
Black Body Radiation (cont.)
Wavelengths:
• As temperature increases, the intensity of the wavelength
increases.
• Through using suitable spectrometers, we can see that the
radiations absorbed by black bodies appear red, yellow, blue
and white.
Importance to rise in sea level:
• Sea to land ratio on Earth : 70-75% : 30-25%
• Because of the dominating amount of sea on Earth, black
body radiation causes a larger change in temperature, rising
the temperature on Earth drastically.
Chemicals in the Atmosphere
There are three main gases in the dry air, or air without
water vapour. These are:
• Nitrogen
• Oxygen
• Argon
There are eight other gases in the atmosphere but these
are not as abundant and are called trace gases. One of
these being carbon dioxide, a green house gas.
Experiment: CO2
Aim: The first experiment was to make sure that mixing marble chips and hydrochloric
acid would make CO2.
Outline: We did this by first setting up the lab. The materials are:
• a beaker
• Hydrochloric Acid
• Potassium Hydroxide
• Universal Indicator
• a U-tube
• a test tube
• two corks connected to the same tube
• two clap holders
Methods:
1. Connect the U-tube to the stand and corks to the tube
2. In the beaker add 20 mL of water, 2 mL of Potassium
Hydroxide and 10 drops of Universal Indicator.
3. Pour the mixture into the U-tube.
4. Mixing about a spoon full of marble chips with 20mL of
Hydrochloric Acid in the test tube.
5. Quickly put the cork on the test tube.
Experiment: CO2 Conclusion
As soon as we put the cork on it began to bubble. It
changed color. Unfortunately I called an end to the
experiment before the Universal Indicator turned orangered indicating CO2. However this experiment, although cut
short, still shows that a reaction with an acidic ph did
occur.
Experiment: Temperature change due to CO2
abundance
Aim: If there is a difference in temperature in a tube with high CO2 concentration in
comparison to our normal atmosphere.
Outline: The most difficult part of this experiment is the set up. The materials for
this experiment are:
• a tank
• bracket
• spoon ful of marble
• Hydrochloric Acid
• two corks connected by a tube
• two clap holders
• two split end test tubes (In our case three)
• two thermometers (In our case three)
Methods:
1. Fill the tank with water and filled one of the split end test tubes with water.
2. Once the split end test tube is full place it on top of the bracket connected to the
clap holder.
3. Mix the marble and hydrochloric acid in the test tube.
Temperature change experiment continued
and concluded
Place the thermometer in the split of the split end test tube. The cork at
this end should have a hole for the thermometer. Then take another
split end test tube and fill it with roughly the same amount of water that
is left in the other test tube. A thermometer is placed inside this test
tube as well. Then, take both test tubes out into the sun.
Conclusion: We used three test tubes; one Oxygen, two CO2. The
CO2 test tube had a temperature of 18.8°C and the other at 21.7°C
after an hour. The Oxygen test tube had a
temperature of 18°C. However, the Oxygen
showed the largest increase from the original
temperature being 14°C where the other two
started at 16°C and 18°C. The experiment still
showed that the CO2 tubes were hotter than the
O2 test tube.
Marine Life
• Pollution because of the moving of rubbish and toxins from
the ground into the ocean (die,sick, and migrate of marine
organism like fishes,algae, plankton and Krill, the foundation
of food web.)
• Lack of food and decrease in population of marine animals
such as polar bears,penguins, and seals.
• Plant which is in the bottom of the sea can't do
photosynthesis well.
Sinking Islands
Thermal Expansion:
• change in volume due to change in temperature
• particles move quicker and tend to divide more
New Causes:
• Over the past 20th century, the sea level has risen by
10-20 cm
• Predictions: 6.1m in 100 years (An Inconvenient Truth)
• Caused by the melting of glaciers
Consequences:
• Coastal flooding and storm damage, eroding shorelines,
salt water contamination of fresh water supplies, and an
increase in the salinity of estuaries
• Most Importantly: Where Do We Live!?
Rise in Sea Level Experiment
Materials:
-two 200ml beakers, tray, ice cubes, 400ml of tap water
Methods:
1. Put ice cubes into one beaker so that only half is filled with it.
2. Put ice cubes into the other beaker until the very top.
3. Pour 200ml of tap water into each beaker so that it reaches
the very brim.
Real Life Example: Madives
•
•
•
•
•
Paradise for tourists
80% more than 1m above the water
Within the next century, this island would disappear
Male, the capital, is surrounded by 3m tall wall
Currently building an artificial island
Consequences:
• Weather is unpredictable
• Alignment of stars cannot tell the
weather anymore
• Coral reefs gained protection
• Some inhabitants inevitably had
to migrate
Reflections
Rika: Communication was the hardest part of the project, and I sometimes found
it frustrating when I could not clearly express my ideas to my group members.
However, after I learned to listen, praise and sometimes reject my friends' ideas,
communication became easy and even enjoyable.
Kent: Some improvements on my experiment include quality of the experimental
tools, having a black painted beaker instead of black paper, and ensure each
beaker gets the same amount of sunlight.
Angeleena: An improvement I would definitely change about the CO2 experiment
would be leaving the experiment alone. Mixed with CO2 the Universal Indicator
was suppose to turn orange, unfortunately I stopped the experiment to soon and it
only turned yellow.
Ji Min: The hardest part of this Group 4 project was connecting with my group
members. And designing my own experiment required a lot of effort to think of
one. However, I was comfortable with researching and make a slide show on
google docs.
Bibliography
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3930765.stm
http://www.egglescliffe.org.uk/physics/astronomy/blackbody/bbody.html
http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/~uglabs/250%20lab%20manual/blackbody.pdf
http://Galileo.phys.Virginia.EDU/classes/252/black_body_radiation.html
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/stefan.html
http://www.tutorvista.com/chemistry/greenhouse-solar-heating
http://timeforchange.org/CO2-cause-of-global-warming
http://www.ecn.ac.uk/Education/climate_change.htm
http://www.wetlandswatch.org/sl_wetland_services_whycare.asp
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/environment/wrjp365g.html
http://www.suite101.com/content/the-composition-of-our-atmosphere-a66490
http://www.climate.org/topics/sea-level/index.html
http://www.neaq.org/conservation_and_research/climate_change/effects_on_ocean_animals.php
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/global-warming4.htm