According to the National Safety Transportation Board, when it is only 60 degrees F outside the inside of a car can become too warm for children or pets. The fact that temperatures inside a car can be so much higher than those outside is actually an illustration of the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect refers to a process by which light energy passes through our atmosphere but, when it is converted into heat energy, gets trapped by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. In a car, or a greenhouse, the same thing happens on a small scale. Light energy easily passes in through the glass, but the heat energy created inside gets trapped by the windows, raising the temperature inside the car.
As spring progresses into summer and average outside air temperatures continue to increase, the temperatures inside cars can rise so much that even very short periods of time in a car can pose significant danger to children or pets.
From a hot car to the seasons
This aspect of our seasonality is due primarily to increases in the height of the sun above the horizon, called sun angle. Sun angle is usually measured at noon, when the sun is highest in the sky that it will be all day.
In this workshop participants learn how to calculate sun angle for any day of the year for any place on Earth. This can be used to demonstrate not only the role of this important factor in temperature seasonality in the midlatitudes but also aspects of climate in other parts of the world.
Format
The workshop is two hours long at a desired location in your school district. Participants get packets of activity sheets for their use during the workshop as well as for implementing in their own classrooms. CEUs or SCECHs are awarded.
Pairs naturally with Why isn’t the Equator the hottest place on Earth?, which builds on the sun angle work.
