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 hold some of that heat back
   • Greenhouse gases block most of the sunlight
   • 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?

   • Clouds make fresh heat of their own
   • The ground stops taking in sunlight
   • The warm ground gives off heat
   • Greenhouse gases soak up the sunlight on its way down
5. 3.

   Jun reads a list of gases in the air for a weather club. Which one is a greenhouse gas?

   • Oxygen, the gas we breathe in
   • Nitrogen and oxygen together
   • Nitrogen
   • Carbon dioxide
6. 4.

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

   • Oxygen and water vapor
   • Nitrogen and methane
   • Methane and water vapor
   • Oxygen and nitrogen
7. 5.

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

   • Yes: they turn the heat into sunlight
   • Yes: they are the main greenhouse gases
   • No: but they block the incoming sunlight
   • No: that heat passes right through them
8. 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 warmer
   • About 2 °C colder
   • More than 30 °C colder
   • About the same, since people made the effect
9. 7.

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

   • It happens on Venus but not on Earth
   • It began when the ozone hole opened
   • It is natural, and people have added to it
   • People started it by burning fuel
10. 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
11. 9.

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

    • Heat, as infrared energy
    • Fresh sunlight, the same as came in
    • Nothing, as the ground keeps its heat
    • Greenhouse gases
12. 10.

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

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