Example research essay topic: Greenhouse Gases Global Warming - 1,471 words

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Global warming is not a myth it is a fact. It has been proven that the temp has gone up in the last 2 decades. Yes, it is possible to stop it and even fix it. At the rate we are going it will be the same as it was in 1980 by 2050. Yes I think that global warming is a fact to be reckoned with. But I agree with both sides because both are right each in their own way.

It is proven that the earth has been cooling down over the last 6, 000 years since the Holocene Maximum. That is a fact! But there are also facts supporting global warming. There have been several studies done over the past few years that support global warming, I will explore these studies in the body of my paper. You will see which First I am going to start with the ozone layer. It all takes place in the Stratosphere about 6 miles (10 km) to 30 miles (50 km) above the earth.

This is where the ozone is and the ozone protects us from the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Ozone = (O 3) = O + O 2 = (O 3). Because of its composition it is reactive. In other words it readily combines with and oxidizes (breaks down) whatever materials it comes in contact with. As the stratosphere absorbs solar energy or heat from the sun, it creates a photochemical reaction that produces ozone. This solar radiation breaks down molecular oxygen (co 2) into (o), which in tern combines with other (o) to form (O 3).

This process is called photo dissociation. Ozone breaks down gases like carbon dioxide. But when there is more carbon dioxide than ozone what happens? The condition known as global warming occurs. Global warming is the raising of the Earth's surface temperature due to chemicals in the atmosphere. Global warming has many threats on the climate and even the health of the people on this planet.

Some of these threats include the altering of crop seasons and even affect the way organisms survive on the planet. The first thing I think I should discuss when talking about global warming is what causes it to occur. Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are known as greenhouse gases, all build up in the atmosphere of the earth. All these gases make it so that it becomes harder for the (UV) radiation that the sun shines into the atmosphere to escape. The heat continues to build up and this is what causes the temperatures to increase. I know this seems like the temperatures increase massively but in the last hundred years the average temperature of the Earth has gone up between 1. 1 and 1. 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

One way that we are able to tell this is thanks to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. John Magnuson the lead researcher at UW professor and former director of the UW Center for Limnology (2000 P. 1) said that "This study strongly supports the theory of global warming" He also stated that: Using a unique set of detailed records ranging from transportation ledgers to records of religious observances to newspaper archives from 26 lakes and rivers across North America, Japan, Russia, Finland and Switzerland, Magnuson and a team of 13 other researchers found that the average first freeze date came 9. 8 days later in the season and the first thaw date arrived 8. 7 days earlier at the end of the 150 -year period than they did in the beginning. The period studied was 1846 to 1995. Also in the last fifteen years, we have had the ten warmest years on record. Which really do's not mean that much because the records don't go back that far in history.

Global warming also helps the earth and our farmers in some ways and, it has been for many years. It helps the farmers by making their growing season longer, which makes my snowboarding season shorter. Greenhouse gases are let into the atmosphere every time there is a forest fire or a volcano that erupts. Without global warming, the Earth's temperature would be a lot lower than the 60 -degree average. Unfortunately, there being many more harmful "greenhouse gases" being placed into the atmosphere by man made things like cars and factories.

So instead of the temperature staying at a constant, it's rising. What are many of the dangers of the Earth's temperature rising? First of all, it may cause many of the glaciers that are floating in the Arctic and Greenland to melt. This in turn would cause the sea levels to rise around the world. In the last hundred years alone the seas around the planet have risen anywhere from four to ten inches. I know it does not sound like a massive change but it really is because being able to raise all the seas in the world a whole ten inches is a huge amount.

Sea levels also continue to rise is because the hotter temperature causes the ocean water to expand. An example of the sea level causing problems could happen on a little Native Island in the middle of an Ocean. On these islands usually where native tribes live, if the sea level rises three fourths of a meter then half of the island will sink. This could happen in many different islands around the world and if the water keeps on rising as it is, then farming land near the sea shores will be flooded and the crops will be destroyed and many farmers will be left without much to live off of. The melting of the glaciers are also causing some problems in the Himalayas. Many of the tops of the mountains in that area have been melting.

Massive flooding and rivers that are well above their normal levels are threatening the crops and homes in the area. Many of the locals that live in the area and many of the scientists that are surveying the area are saying that the glaciers are melting at a phenomenal rate. Another danger that comes with the changing of the climate is that the increased heat causes more evaporation to occur in the hotter climates. This causes the weather to be less predictable and more threatening than in the past.

Therefore there is more precipitation in many other climates that are not used to handling massive rainfalls. This increased rainfall also leads to speeding up the process of the sea levels rising. Health is also something that becomes threatened because of global warming. Heat becomes a huge factor in the health of humans, especially the elderly.

Incidents such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion and disease increase drastically. I know I sure have noticed that older people have a harder time driving on the really hot day during the summer. The heat makes it possible for mosquitoes and other insects to transmit diseases. This is something that happened in New York. A very rare disease called St.

Louis Emphyitis that would spread in puddles of water that mosquitoes would drink out of due to the heat. These mosquitoes would then bite humans and infect them with this disease. I don't recall how many people, if any died due to this, but it did cause a bit of a panic in the New York Metropolitan area. Heat is not the only weather problem. Global Warming doesn't only increase temperatures in hot areas.

It also decreases temperatures in cold areas. An example of this has been the cold spell that struck the Midwest. In Montana, temperatures plummeted to 30 degrees below and stayed there. The coldest weather ever recorded plagued our country's heart for over three weeks. A related incident has been the blizzards of the East Coast. Some places in New York State got over twenty feet of snow.

So what is in store for Earth in the future? "Possibly nothing." There are many people that believe global warming is not going to be a problem. So if this is the case, we have nothing to really worry about. They also have lots of fact to support their theories. They do not say that global warming is not happening. They just say it is being strongly overridden by the natural forcing cycles so far. So they are not saying that the green house effect is not happening, They are saying that it is just not relevant at this time.

Dr. Theodore Landscheidt (fall 1999 p 3) says; "On the basis of the 180 year solar retrograde cycle alone, that the nest century will be colder, since every other century has been colder, and on that basis alone, the trends in colder data are headed in that direction, so they will probably turn out...

Research essay sample on Greenhouse Gases Global Warming