John Tyndall Pioneer of the Greenhouse Effect. By: Madeline Tuesley

Transcription

1 John Tyndall Pioneer of the Greenhouse Effect By: Madeline Tuesley

2 John Tyndall Intro Brief background

3 Notes 1 John Tyndall was a revoluconary atmospheric sciencst, who was instrumental in the development of what we now call the green house effect. His research of radiant heat and discovery of gasses which have a high rate of absorpcon were the cornerstones of modern research and development of global warming. John Tyndall was an Irish sciencst in the mid 1800s. By the mid 1860s John Tyndall had published 17 science books and had become one of the world s most famous physicists. His books brought science to the masses in a way that all people could understand and learn the complicated material. The solar heat possesses... the power of crossing an atmosphere; but, when the heat is absorbed by the planet, it is so changed in quality that the rays emanacng from the planet cannot get with the same freedom back into space. Thus the atmosphere admits of the entrance of the solar heat, but checks its exit; and the result is a tendency to accumulate heat at the surface of the planet. Tyndall (Oxford University Press, 1998)

4 Radiant Heat Instrument Process Discoveries first raco spectrophotometer an instrument that measures and studies the electromagnecc spectrum, infrared radiacon

5 Notes 2 Instrument Tyndall used the first raco spectrophotometer (pictured on previous slide) for his experiment equipment. This instrument consisted of a long tube that was capped at both ends, through which various gasses were released. Then radiacon was emi^ed into the tube to interact with the gasses. The instrument then measured temperature and the intensity of the radiacon (Oxford University Press, 1998) Process Tyndall was focused on researching radiant heat and the absorpcon of radiacon by gases. Tyndall tested many gasses from water vapor to carbonic acid. He was tescng to find the absorpcon capacices of each gas. Discoveries Tyndall discovered that elementary gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen absorpcon abilices could hardly even be measured. ( ContribuCons Radiant heat. Tyndall) However water vapor and carbon proved to have high absorpcon rates and were able to hold and transmit the radiacon. Thus creacng what we now call the green house effect. Although, interescngly enough, at the Cme the surface warming of the earth by radiacon was viewed as a posicve thing that was necessary for the vegetacon on earth. Granted this was before the Industrial revolucon and its effects on the environment had come into play.

6 Relevance to Today The importance of John Tyndall s discoveries

7 Notes 3 Today the topic of global warming has become so prevalent it is a policcal, social, and environmental issue. Everyone is trying to understand the theory and figure out ways to control it. But without John Tyndall s experiments and findings in the mid 1800s awareness and knowledge of this process would not have been available. Is it possible that another sciencst would have made these discoveries? Yes, but the real quescon is, would it have been too late? Making these discoveries in the mid 1800s, during the birth of the industrial revolucon gave future atmospheric sciencst and physicists Cme to experiment and research further to understand the concepts of the surface warming of the earth through radiacon.

8 Work Cited ContribuCons to molecular physics in the domain of radiant heat by: John Tyndall. New York. May 1872 h^p://books.google.com/books? hl=en&lr=&id=no8oaaaayaaj&oi=fnd&pg=pa1&dq=john+tyndall +heat&ots=fpjbsh1myc&sig=ox67vji7voz3se_dr7kflf7j3xe#ppr4,m1) Rodger Fleming, Historical Perspec5ves on Climate Change (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). hip:// Wikipedia.com Google Scholar