Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

For my science fair topic, I'm working with carbon dioxide. My question for my science fair is "How does the amount of carbon dioxide impact the heat trapped in the earth's atmosphere?" And my hypothesis is "If the amount of carbon dioxide increases, then the more heat will be trapped." So the layout for my project is going to be a tall and wide glass jar in which I will create carbon dioxide and test the levels of it as well as the heat when light is shined on it. I have a carbon dioxide meter monitor and a thermometer that hooks up to my computer and gives the information on logger pro.
So, the questions I have about this project is how do I know how much carbon dioxide I'm creating in my glass jar? And how is my project going to answer my question? My teacher also told me that I would have two glass gars one with the carbon in it and the other with air and so my question for that is why would I need air in my 2nd glass jar?

Hi Csfey,

Sounds like you're working on a fun and interesting project!

How will you generate carbon dioxide in the glass jar? One idea is to dissolve an effervescent tablet (like Alka Seltzer) in water. The reaction of the tablet's ingredients (sodium bicarbonate and citric acid) produces carbon dioxide. You could change the amount of carbon dioxide in the jar by dissolving different size pieces of an effervescent tablet. Your carbon dioxide meter should indicate the amount of carbon dioxide in the jar.

The glass jar containing air that your teacher suggested is a control for your experiment. That is, a test set up without any added carbon dioxide. A control test is often used to help judge the effect of the variable (carbon dioxide in this case) in the experiment.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman