The greenhouse effect

Grade 6 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cause → effect chain, four boxes left to right with arrows between them. Box 1: "Sunlight passes through the air and warms the ground." Box 2: "The warm ground gives off heat." Box 3: ? (blank) Box 4: "The air near the ground stays warmer."

2. 1.

   Ari fills in a cause → effect chain for a science poster. Which words go in blank Box 3?

   • Greenhouse gases block most of the sunlight
   • Greenhouse gases hold some of that heat back
   • The ground sends its heat to space at once
   • The ozone hole causes the air to warm

3. Use this

   Cause → effect chain, four boxes left to right with arrows between them. Box 1: "Sunlight passes through the air and warms the ground." Box 2: ? (blank) Box 3: "Greenhouse gases hold some of that heat back." Box 4: "The air near the ground stays warmer."

4. 2.

   Bo's chain has Box 2 blank, between the warmed ground and the gases. Which words fill Box 2?

   • The warm ground gives off heat
   • Clouds make fresh heat of their own
   • Greenhouse gases soak up the sunlight on its way down
   • The ground stops taking in sunlight

5. Use this

   Cause → effect chain, four boxes left to right with arrows between them. Box 1: "Sunlight passes through the air and warms the ground." Box 2: "The warm ground gives off heat." Box 3: "Greenhouse gases hold some of that heat back." Box 4: ? (blank)

6. 3.

   Esme reaches the last box of the chain, after the gases hold some heat back. Which words fill Box 4?

   • The ozone layer grows much thicker
   • The air near the ground turns colder
   • The air near the ground stays warmer
   • The gases soak up the sunlight instead
7. 4.

   Kira's NASA fact card lists the greenhouse gases. Which pair are both on that list?

   • Methane and water vapor
   • Nitrogen and methane
   • Oxygen and nitrogen
   • Oxygen and water vapor
8. 5.

   Most of the air is nitrogen and oxygen. Do those two gases hold back the heat the ground gives off, Luz?

   • Yes: they are the main greenhouse gases
   • Yes: they turn the heat into sunlight
   • No: that heat passes right through them
   • No: but they block the incoming sunlight
9. 6.

   Earth's surface averages about 15 °C (59 °F) thanks to the natural greenhouse effect. With no air at all, how would it compare, Milo?

   • More than 30 °C colder
   • About 2 °C colder
   • More than 30 °C warmer
   • About the same, since people made the effect
10. 7.

    Noah's classmate says people started the greenhouse effect. What does NASA say?

    • People started it by burning fuel
    • It is natural, and people have added to it
    • It began when the ozone hole opened
    • It happens on Venus but not on Earth
11. 8.

    NASA compares greenhouse gases to a cozy blanket around Earth (no pillow fights in space). What does the blanket do, Pia?

    • Holds in some heat Earth gives off
    • Makes its own heat, like a heater
    • Lets the heat escape faster
    • Keeps the sunlight from reaching the ground
12. 9.

    Sunlight streams in and warms Ren's schoolyard. What does the warm ground send back up toward the sky?

    • Nothing, as the ground keeps its heat
    • Greenhouse gases
    • Heat, as infrared energy
    • Fresh sunlight, the same as came in
13. 10.

    Zee draws two arrows: sunlight coming in and heat going out. Which arrow do greenhouse gases slow down?

    • The sunlight coming in
    • Both arrows by the same amount
    • The heat going out
    • Neither arrow