MO-4: Investigating Atmospheres
The greenhouse effect plays a crucial role in the atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars. In this MO, teams will investigate the greenhouse effect using hands-on experiments, models, and simulations. Students will explore how factors such as atmospheric composition, surface material, cloud cover, and water vapor influence planetary temperatures. Then, they will use the evidence collected for MO-3 and MO-4 to make a claim with evidence about why the Earth and Venus are so different now.
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Thermometers or temperature probes
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Large (1-2 liter) plastic bottles or other sealable clear glass or plastic containers (2 per team)
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Light source (such as a grow bulb or sunlight outdoors)
Some additional materials will depend on the testable question that your students chose. See Companion Course Lesson 4 for ideas.
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Engage Section: An activity to help teams learn where the water at school, at home, and in their community comes from.
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Explore Section: A game to help students understand the water cycle and experiments that demonstrate portions of the water cycle.
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Explain Section: Examples of place-based water cycle models.
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Elaborate Section: Guidance to support students in creating their water purification prototypes.
A note about materials:
The materials that you need will depend on the kinds of investigations that are designed by your students. In most cases, it is a good idea to gather as many of the materials listed as you can reasonably gather, and make these available to students as they design their experiments. See details in the lesson plan for additional supports as students design their own investigations.
NASA missions have been studying the greenhouse effect on Venus, Earth, and Mars for decades. Probes like Venus Express and Pioneer Venus revealed how Venus’s thick CO₂ atmosphere traps heat, making it the hottest planet in the solar system. Meanwhile, the Curiosity Rover and Perseverance Rover are investigating how Mars lost its once-thicker atmosphere, leaving it cold and dry. On Earth, satellites like OCO-2 and Aqua monitor greenhouse gases and climate changes in real-time. Future missions, including VERITAS and DAVINCI, will explore Venus’s atmosphere and surface to uncover how its runaway greenhouse effect developed.
See the Getting up to Speed with ROADS from Earth to Venus document to learn more about the greenhouse effect and how NASA is studying it.
In this MO, teams will design and carry out experiments to better understand the greenhouse effect, which is important for understanding the atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars.
First, teams will consider surface temperatures on the inner planets and discuss factors that may impact these temperatures.
Next, teams will design a hands-on experiment to test how different factors impact temperature on simulated planets. Using clear, sealed containers, they will create small test environments and change one variable at a time—such as the amount of carbon dioxide, water vapor, surface color, or cloud cover. They will record temperature changes to see how each factor affects heat trapping. There are lots of resources in the associated Companion Course lesson to help students come up with ideas for their experiment.
Finally, students will make claims based on anything from MO-3 or MO-4 about why Earth and Venus are so different now, despite being more similar in the past.
To take their investigation further, teams can choose to explore simulations or careers related to this lesson.
As they work, teams should keep track of their results in their Science and Engineering Notebooks (SENs). At the end of the Challenge teams will be asked to submit a Mission Development Log (MDL) to NESSP that shows how the students worked through the Mission Objective and summarizes their results. NESSP provides an MDL Template to help guide what teams should include in their MDL. Please see MO-1 for guidelines on the format and length of the MDL.
Investigation
- Describe the experiment by drawing or taking a picture of the experiment set-up and identifying the independent, dependent, and controlled variables.
- Describe the frequency of measurements and when measurements were taken
- Include at least three photographs of their experiment in progress. Photos should be dated and labeled with a description of what they show.
- Include the experimental data in table or graphical form.
- Include the experimental data in table or graphical form.
- Claim: Make a clear claim about why the Earth and Venus are so different now despite being very similar before
- Evidence: Evidence must come from the activities and resources provided in Lessons 3 and 4. The source of the evidence must be included. Teachers may decide to allow additional resources from reputable sources.
- Grades 3-5: Identify one important cause and support it with at least 3 pieces of evidence
- Middle School: Identify at least three important causes and support each cause with at least 2 pieces of evidence for each cause
- High School: Identify at least three important causes and their relative importance, with at least 2 pieces of evidence for each cause
- Explanation: For each piece of evidence, supply at least one sentence that explains how that piece of evidence supports the claim.