The World Set Free
Study Guide for Episode 12
Episode 12, “The World Set Free”
People
• Charles David Keeling first documented the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, with careful measurements starting in 1958.
• Svante Arhennius, pioneer in thermodynamics, predicted global warming in 1896.
• Guy Callendar developed a theory that carbon dioxide levels are linked to global temperature.
• Gilbert Plass made early and accurate predictions about temperature rise in response to carbon dioxide.
• Augustin Mouchot showed that solar energy could be used to boil water and drive mechanical devices, but his development of solar power was undercut by cheap coal.
• Frank Shuman built solar-powered irrigation in Egypt, but his development of solar power was undercut by cheap oil.
Ideas
• Isotopes (here they are again) of carbon allow us to tell whether increases in carbon dioxide levels are due to volcanism or to combustion of fossil fuels. Read more HERE. This is one of many such distinctions that can be made using powerful techniques of isotopic signatures to reveal a sample's origin or history.
• Solar cells convert the sun's light directly into electricity. See how they work HERE, and HERE.
• Wind is a form of solar power, because the sun's light, combined with gravity, causes convection (here it is again) in Earth's atmosphere.
• Did you know? The prevailing winds over the US are west to east, but farther south and farther north, the prevailing winds are east to west (think of the trade winds). Do you know why?
• Feedback occurs when process A causes another process B, which intensifies process A, which intensifies process B even more, and so forth. An example is the melting of ocean ice, which replaces sun-reflecting ice with dark, heat-absorbing open water, which melts more ice, and so forth.
•
Key Idea
• Global Warming -- it’s not as if no one saw this coming! For a summary of myths about global warming, with the science to refute them, see http://www.skepticalscience.com/anthrocarbon-brief.html
•
People
• Charles David Keeling first documented the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, with careful measurements starting in 1958.
• Svante Arhennius, pioneer in thermodynamics, predicted global warming in 1896.
• Guy Callendar developed a theory that carbon dioxide levels are linked to global temperature.
• Gilbert Plass made early and accurate predictions about temperature rise in response to carbon dioxide.
• Augustin Mouchot showed that solar energy could be used to boil water and drive mechanical devices, but his development of solar power was undercut by cheap coal.
• Frank Shuman built solar-powered irrigation in Egypt, but his development of solar power was undercut by cheap oil.
Ideas
• Isotopes (here they are again) of carbon allow us to tell whether increases in carbon dioxide levels are due to volcanism or to combustion of fossil fuels. Read more HERE. This is one of many such distinctions that can be made using powerful techniques of isotopic signatures to reveal a sample's origin or history.
• Solar cells convert the sun's light directly into electricity. See how they work HERE, and HERE.
• Wind is a form of solar power, because the sun's light, combined with gravity, causes convection (here it is again) in Earth's atmosphere.
• Did you know? The prevailing winds over the US are west to east, but farther south and farther north, the prevailing winds are east to west (think of the trade winds). Do you know why?
• Feedback occurs when process A causes another process B, which intensifies process A, which intensifies process B even more, and so forth. An example is the melting of ocean ice, which replaces sun-reflecting ice with dark, heat-absorbing open water, which melts more ice, and so forth.
•
Key Idea
• Global Warming -- it’s not as if no one saw this coming! For a summary of myths about global warming, with the science to refute them, see http://www.skepticalscience.com/anthrocarbon-brief.html
•
Updates
• In every day's news, we are flooded (!) with updates on global warming and alternative energy. Most of the progress in our knowledge now is incremental, rather than revolutionary. One of the greatest problems has become convincing non-scientists that these problems are real, and that the time to confront them is now.
Readings (recycled from Episode 11 page)
• Poem: Billy Collins, "Introduction to Poetry". Read it HERE.
• In every day's news, we are flooded (!) with updates on global warming and alternative energy. Most of the progress in our knowledge now is incremental, rather than revolutionary. One of the greatest problems has become convincing non-scientists that these problems are real, and that the time to confront them is now.
Readings (recycled from Episode 11 page)
• Poem: Billy Collins, "Introduction to Poetry". Read it HERE.
• What is an interpretation of a poem? After you think about it, HERE is one take on this question.
• Can you find likenesses between interpreting a poem and doing science? (Think data, law, theory.)
• Does appreciation of a poem end with a cogent interpretation?
• Does appreciation of nature end with scientific explanations?
• Can you find likenesses between interpreting a poem and doing science? (Think data, law, theory.)
• Does appreciation of a poem end with a cogent interpretation?
• Does appreciation of nature end with scientific explanations?
