Trace Gases

This Stella model allows students to learn about chemical mass balance in the atmosphere and apply this concept to atmospheric chlorofluorocarbon (important for ozone depletion) and carbon dioxide (important for global warming) concentration changes. Students will learn about chemical mass balance of the global atmosphere, understand the relationship between atmospheric life-time, source emission strength, and equilibrium concentration and be able to apply this to CFC concentration changes before and after international policies calling for the phase out of CFC production. The exercise is most useful in an introductory geoscience class with content related to global warming, ozone depletion, or global scale atmospheric pollution. This site also offers teaching notes and tips, teaching materials and assessment ideas. This activity is part of the Starting Point Collection: http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/ Educational levels: High school, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division