John Tyndall, an Irish physicist, discovered the greenhouse effect in 1859 by conducting experiments using long-wave infrared radiation. He discovered that gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor absorb and radiate heat, making them essential for keeping the Earth warm. Tyndall’s heat source was not the Sun but radiation from a copper cube. His experiments showed that even in small quantities, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone absorbed much more heat than the rest of the atmosphere.
Tyndall later made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the physical properties of air, proving the connection between atmospheric CO2 and what is now known as the greenhouse effect. He also discovered that gases in the atmosphere absorb heat to very different degrees, demonstrating the molecular mechanism behind this phenomenon. Tyndall’s experiments demonstrated that gases in the atmosphere absorb and radiate heat to very different degrees, making them an important part of keeping the Earth warm.
In 1896, Svante Svante also discovered that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, meaning that it can absorb and hold heat. Tyndall explained the heat in the Earth’s atmosphere in terms of the capacities of various gases in the air to absorb radiant heat, in the form of infrared radiation.
In summary, Tyndall’s work on the greenhouse effect, which involves the absorption and radiation of heat by gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor, has revolutionized our understanding of the Earth’s temperature.
📹 John Tyndall: The Physicist Who Proved the Greenhouse Effect – with Paul Hurley
2020 marks 200 years since the birth of the scientist John Tyndall, who led the Royal Institution’s research following the death of …
When did John Tyndall discover the greenhouse effect?
John Tyndall, a renowned physicist, conducted significant experiments at the Royal Institution (Ri) in 1859 to explain the greenhouse effect. Born in Ireland in 1820, Tyndall began his career as a surveyor and later became the Professor of Natural Philosophy at Ri in 1853. He conducted numerous lectures and experiments, including the construction of the blue sky apparatus and the radiant heat apparatus. Tyndall discovered that water vapor and carbon dioxide absorb and radiate heat, making them crucial for keeping Earth warm. His findings were published in a book in 1861.
The greenhouse effect is a mechanism that keeps heat in the atmosphere, preventing the Earth from freezing. Energy from the sun warms the Earth, which then radiates heat back into the atmosphere in the form of infrared radiation. However, this heat is absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing the Earth’s surface to warm up. Too many greenhouse gases can cause the Earth to warm up too quickly, causing the Earth to become too habitable.
What were the discoveries of John Tyndall?
In 1859, Tyndall demonstrated that gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor can absorb heat from infrared radiation from a copper cube containing boiling water. This infrared radiation, similar to Earth’s surface radiation, caused the Earth’s temperature to rise above average due to the atmosphere acting as an insulator. Tyndall’s work uncovered the greenhouse effect, where gases trap heat in the atmosphere, resulting in a tendency to accumulate heat at the planet’s surface. This mechanism is now known as the greenhouse effect.
How did John Tyndall discover the Tyndall effect?
John Tyndall, a renowned mountaineer, discovered the ‘Tyndall effect’ in the 1860s. He discovered that the sky’s color is due to the scattering of sun-generated light around upper atmosphere particles. Tyndall experimented with light, using a glass tube to simulate the sky with a white light at one end representing the sun. When the tube was filled with smoke, the beam of light appeared blue from the side but red from the far end.
This discovery led to the understanding that the sky’s color is a result of sun-generated light scattering around particles in the upper atmosphere. Tyndall’s work is now known as the ‘Tyndall effect’.
Who introduced the green house effect?
Joseph Fourier proposed the greenhouse effect in 1824, which occurs when radiation from a planet’s atmosphere warms its surface to a higher temperature than it would be without the atmosphere. This effect is influenced by the presence of radioactively active gases (greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere, which radiate energy in all directions and some of this radiation is reflected back to the surface, warming it.
The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere determines the intensity of downward radiation, or the strength of the greenhouse effect. John Tyndall initially measured infrared absorption and emission of gases and vapors.
What is the greenhouse effect what gas did Foote and Tyndall discover causes it?
Foote and Tyndall were the first to identify the capacity of carbon dioxide to absorb heat, thereby contributing to the greenhouse effect, which traps heat and causes the atmosphere to warm.
What is the evidence of the greenhouse effect?
The analysis of ice cores from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers has revealed that changes in greenhouse gas levels exert a significant influence on Earth’s climate.
How is Tyndall effect caused?
The Tyndall effect is a phenomenon where a beam of light is illuminated when it passes through a colloidal solution in a dark room. The colloidal particles absorb energy from the incident light and scatter a portion of it from their surfaces. This scattering of light causes the particles to appear as points of light moving against a dark background. The effect is observed in various daily phenomena, such as when a fine beam of sunlight enters a smoke-filled room through a small hole, or when sunlight passes through a dense forest canopy, tiny water droplets in the mist scatter light and become visible.
Who discovered the greenhouse effect in 1824?
The greenhouse effect, first proposed by Joseph Fourier in 1824, was further strengthened by Claude Pouillet in 1827 and 1838. Eunice Newton Foote demonstrated that the sun’s warming effect is greater for air with water vapor than dry air, and even greater with carbon dioxide. The term “greenhouse” was first applied to this phenomenon by Nils Gustaf Ekholm in 1901. The greenhouse effect on Earth is defined as the infrared radiative effect of all infrared absorbing constituents in the atmosphere, including greenhouse gases (GHGs), clouds, and some aerosols. The enhanced greenhouse effect is due to human action increasing the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere, resulting in a more significant natural greenhouse effect.
What did John Tyndall do for a living?
John Tyndall was a scientist, science teacher, and evangelist for the cause of science. He spent significant time disseminating science to the general public, giving hundreds of public lectures at the Royal Institution in London. Tyndall’s reputation at the time was praised for his original investigation, sound teaching, and making science attractive. His greatest audience was gained through his books, most of which were not written for experts or specialists.
He published more than a dozen science books, and from the mid-1860s on, he became one of the world’s most famous living physicists due to his skill and industry as a tutorialist. Most of his books were translated into German and French, with his main tutorials staying in print in those languages for decades.
Tyndall’s teaching attitude is evident in his concluding remarks to the reader at the end of a 200-page tutorial book for a “youthful audience”, The Forms of Water. He expressed gratitude for the support of his readers and the work they had done together, using their own muscles instead of relying on his. In his 350-page tutorial entitled Sound, Tyndall aimed to render the science of acoustics interesting to all intelligent persons, including those without any special scientific culture. The subject was treated experimentally throughout, and the author aimed to place each experiment before the reader so they could realize it as an actual operation.
Tyndall’s first published tutorial, about glaciers, also stated that the work was written with a desire to interest intelligent persons who may not possess any special scientific culture.
What is John Tyndall best remembered?
John Tyndall FRS was an Irish physicist and chemist who gained scientific fame in the 1850s through his study of diamagnetism. He later made discoveries in infrared radiation and the physical properties of air, proving the connection between atmospheric CO2 and the greenhouse effect in 1859. Tyndall published over a dozen science books, bringing state-of-the-art 19th-century experimental physics to a wide audience. He was professor of physics at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London from 1853 to 1887 and was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1868.
Born in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland, Tyndall attended local schools and later worked as a draftsman for the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and Great Britain. In the 1840s, a railway-building boom was in progress, and Tyndall’s land surveying experience was valuable and in demand by railway companies. Between 1844 and 1847, he was employed in railway construction planning.
In which year the greenhouse gas effect was discovered by the scientist John Tyndall?
John Tyndall discovered carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas in 1859, indicating its ability to absorb and hold heat. Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist, predicted that burning fossil fuels would release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, leading to global warming. Guy Callendar, in 1938, linked rising carbon dioxide levels to Earth’s temperature increase. Charles David Keeling’s 1958 measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, showed a lower concentration of less than 320 ppm, compared to today’s 416 ppm concentration.
📹 The basic physics of global warming
The explains what is called the enhanced greenhouse effect. The explanation that is popularly given of the greenhouse effect is …
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