Too Much Carbon Dioxide

Utah Education Network

This short animated video provides a general overview of the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, and the greenhouse effect.

Click to View

Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

This video is most effectively used in conjunction with the other short videos at [link http://www.planetnutshell.com/climate].
Video makes its points quickly and effectively but lacks the nuance and detail that older audiences would require. Video uses the atmosphere as a blanket analogy (e.g., it shows heat bouncing off the bottom of the atmosphere, suggesting that trapped heat is generated on Earth rather than solar radiation generating the heat and the atmosphere trapping it), which may lead to misconceptions. The instructor should plan to address these misconceptions. The video also shows the atmosphere animated with O2 atoms and nothing else. This is another misconception that the atmosphere is mostly made of oxygen. Students should be made aware of this misconception. Comments from expert scientist: clarity of language and good use of graphics. It is not precise to say that the Sun delivers light and heat. The Sun delivers radiation (short-wave) that is used by the Earth to warm. The Earth emits thermal radiation (long-wave) that is trapped in the atmosphere.