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Worksheet: An Inconvenient Truth

1. What is the most vulnerable part of the Earth and why?

The most vulnerable part of the earth is the atmosphere. In this movie, Al Gore says that the atmosphere is quite thin.

2. Describe how global warming occurs.

The first step to global warming is that the suns heat waves pass through the atmosphere. The next step, which is the problem, is that some heat waves are trapped by the atmosphere. The earth absorbs most of the radiation but only some of the energy is sent back into space. But as time goes by we are polluting our earth which then thickens the atmosphere that makes Global warming happen faster and faster.

3. The Earth’s temperature fluctuates but what is its general trend?________

The earth’s general fluctuation trend is varies. It goes up and down. It seems that both up and down parts are rising slightly. The up part rises a little higher than the down part. Some might only notice a difference by mid 1960’s.

4. The Earth’s carbon dioxide levels fluctuate from summer to winter. What causes this natural fluctuation?

The reason earth’s temperature fluctuates is because most of the land on our earth cover the northern hemisphere instead of the southern hemisphere. When the northern hemisphere is facing the sun (during summertime), the leaves are able to breathe in CO2. When the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun (in the fall/winter), the leaves fall and breathe out CO2.

5. What can bubbles of atmosphere trapped in glacial ice tell us?

The bubbles of atmosphere in a glacier give the amount of CO2 that was in the air the year when it was snowing. It can also tell us what the climate was the year when it was snowing very accurately.

6. How do measurements of carbon dioxide and temperature compare?

Measurements of 1,000 years of CO2 and temperature compare very much the same. The CO2 rises at one point and it seems closer to 90o than when the temperature rises. Also, it...