Heating Earth’s Surfaces

1. Heating Earth’s Surfaces 6th Grade Science

2. Your Purpose To perform an experiment to investigate how the sun’s energy heats different Earth Surfaces (water & land)

3. PROBLEM • Do water and sand heat and cool at the same rate?

4. Factors involved in weather • Moving Air • Water • Land • Heat from the sun WRITE THIS DOWN

5. Weather The state of the atmosphere at any one time.

6. Do you agree or disagree? • The sun’s energy can heat the Earth’s surfaces, even though it is millions of KM away. • The sun’s energy heats both land and water the same temperature. • After being heated, land cools faster than water? • Differences in land and water affect weather and climate?

7. Why are we learning this? • The heating and cooling of land and water is one factor of weather.

8. Each group will have the same materials: • 50 mL of water • 50 mL of sand (land) • 2 plastic-backed thermometers • 1 graduated measuring cup • 2 white plastic trays to hold the sand and water • 2 clear plastic films to protect the thermometers from the light. • All groups will use the same heat source – the lamps in the front of the room. • A timer on the front screen.

9. PROCEDURE Here is the procedure we will follow.

10. Hypothesis • Think about the statements you either agreed or disagreed with. • Do you think land and water heat and cool the same or will they be different? • Why or why not? • Create your hypothesis • Example:If I heat and cool sand and water, then both sand and water will heat and cool at the same rate becausethey will both be using the same heat source.

11. Collecting your data • What will your data prove? • Your data should be used to reach a conclusion. Based on the results, you should be able to conclude… • Example: …if there is any difference in the temperatures of the land and water during heating and cooling, and if they are affected differently by the sun’s energy.

12. Data Collection

13. Graphing Your Results • Organize your data so it makes sense! • What type of graph would you make? • Are we showing changes over time? • YES! Create a double line graph!

14. Angle of the Sun’s Rays Energy from the sun strikes Earth most directly near the equator. Near the poles, the same amount of energy is spread out over a larger area.

15. Greenhouse Effect When Earth’s surface is heated, it radiates most of the energy back into the atmosphere as infrared radiation. Much of this energy is held by the atmosphere, warming it.

16. Some sunlight is absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere. The rest passes through to the surface.

17. Wrap UpWrite this down • Solarenergy – energy from the sun – heats the Earth • Land heats up and cools off quickly. • Water needs lots of solar energy to heat up. • Water warms slowly but also cools slowly • Water helps regulate the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere. • Solar energy absorbed by land & water is changed to heat and radiates back into atmosphere • Heat cannot transmit through the atmosphere – it is trapped in a process known as the greenhouse effect.