Aug 292013
 

Celestia sun

Students will explore how different substances (air, water) and different colors absorb energy from the sun and warm up.  We will discuss what we already know about light energy and absorption, make predictions about what color of background paper will cause air and water to heat up faster, test our predictions by constructing boxes and collecting temperature data, analyze our data, and make conclusions about the implications for climate change.

At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be able to:

  • Graph data and interpret graphs
  • Draw conclusions from data collected during an experiment
  • Understand that the energy that powers almost everything on the planet comes from the sun, and that different substances can absorb more or less of that energy

Resources:

Lesson created by Emily Grman, 2009