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6th grade The greenhouse effect worksheet

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The greenhouse effect

Grade 6 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

NameDate

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 warms the ground." Box 2: "The ground gives off heat." Box 3: "Greenhouse gases hold some heat back." Box 4 (what changes with more greenhouse gas): ? (blank)

  2. Ari's chain gets a fourth box: what changes when the air holds more greenhouse gas. Which words fill it?

    • Less sunlight gets in, so Earth cools
    • The Sun brightens to match
    • The effect switches on for the first time
    • More heat is held, so the average temperature rises

  3. Use this

    Cause → effect chain, four boxes left to right with arrows between them. Box 1: "People burn coal, oil and gas for energy." Box 2: "More carbon dioxide builds up in the air." Box 3: ? (blank). Box 4: "Earth's average temperature rises."

  4. In Bo's chain about fuel, Box 3 is blank. Which words fill Box 3?

    • The gases hold back more of the ground's heat
    • The ozone hole is what warms the ground
    • The gases block more of the incoming sunlight
    • The ground stops giving off heat

  5. Use this

    Cause → effect chain, four boxes left to right with arrows between them. Box 1: "Forests are cleared and burned." Box 2: "More carbon dioxide in the air." Box 3: "More heat held back near the ground." Box 4: "Earth's average temperature rises."

  6. A town plants new trees, which take in carbon dioxide as they grow. Which box of Esme's chain does that push back on?

    • Box 2, since trees take carbon dioxide out of the air
    • No box, since these gases don't change how warm Earth gets
    • Box 4, since shade cools the planet
    • Box 1, since trees stop the burning

  7. Use this

    Data table (NASA), columns Measured since 1880 and What it did. Row 1: Sun's energy reaching Earth, small 11-year ups and downs with no overall rise. Row 2: Earth's average surface temperature, rose about 1 °C. Row 3: Carbon dioxide in the air, kept rising.

  8. Jun compares the three rows in the NASA table. Which explanation of the warming fits the rows?

    • Rising carbon dioxide held more heat
    • A brighter Sun heated Earth
    • The ozone hole warmed the surface
    • Less sunlight got through the air

  9. A video says the Sun caused the warming since 1880. Kira checks it against the NASA table. Which response is best?

    • Agree: the Sun's 11-year ups explain it
    • Disagree: the Sun's energy shows no overall rise
    • Disagree: Earth has not warmed
    • Agree: warmer air means more sunlight was trapped

  10. Scientists also measure the upper air cooling while the surface warms. Which cause, with its reason, fits, Luz?

    • Greenhouse gases: they slow heat loss from the lower air
    • Nothing: the two changes cancel out
    • The ozone hole: its extra UV explains the warming
    • The Sun: a brighter Sun warms the upper air most

  12. Using the NASA table, Venus is almost twice as far from the Sun as Mercury, yet much hotter. Which explanation fits, Milo?

    • Venus is closer to the Sun than Mercury
    • Venus's thick carbon dioxide air holds in heat
    • Venus's air blocks the sunlight, which heats it
    • Venus gets far more sunlight than Mercury

  13. Mars's air is mostly carbon dioxide too, yet Mars averages −65 °C. Using the NASA table, why isn't it warm like Venus, Noah?

    Use the picture in question 7.

    • Its carbon dioxide blocks the sunlight
    • Mars has thicker air than Venus
    • Carbon dioxide can't hold any heat on a planet like Mars
    • Its air is very thin, and it is farther from the Sun

  14. Venus has 92 bars of air pressure, mostly carbon dioxide. Earth has 1 bar. What does that pair of facts help Pia explain?

    Use the picture in question 7.

    • Why Venus is the closest planet to the Sun
    • Why Venus is the hottest planet
    • Why Venus has no greenhouse effect
    • Why Venus is colder than Mercury

  15. Zee's cousin says extra carbon dioxide can't matter, since the greenhouse effect is natural. Which response fits?

    • Agree: natural effects stay fixed
    • Agree: extra gas just blocks sunlight
    • Disagree: carbon dioxide is not a greenhouse gas
    • Disagree: more of the gas holds back more heat
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6th grade The greenhouse effect worksheet – printable
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About this worksheet

The greenhouse effect. Every version has 10 questions, and the answer key prints on the second page.

What your child will learn

  • I can put the four boxes of the greenhouse chain in order and say which energy the gases hold back (the ground's heat, not the incoming sunlight).
  • I can name greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, nitrous oxide) and say that nitrogen and oxygen are not.
  • I can explain that the effect is natural and keeps Earth livable, and that added gases from people have strengthened it and are the main cause of warming since the mid-1900s.
  • I can use evidence (the Sun's energy, the upper and lower air, planet data) to choose between explanations.

Standard: supports MS-ESS3-5

Words to know

greenhouse effect: Gases in the air holding back some of the heat Earth gives off

greenhouse gas: A gas that holds back heat, such as carbon dioxide or methane

infrared (heat): The kind of energy warm ground gives off

fossil fuels: Coal, oil and gas, which release carbon dioxide when burned

consensus: What nearly all the scientists who study it agree the evidence shows

Common mistakes

Your child thought greenhouse gases block or trap the incoming sunlight. Most sunlight passes through; the gases hold back heat the warm ground gives off.

Your child linked the greenhouse effect or the warming to the ozone hole. NASA says extra UV through the hole cannot explain the surface warming. Ask which gases hold back heat.

Your child thought the greenhouse effect was made by people or is only harmful. It is natural, and without it Earth would be more than 30 °C colder. People have added to it. Ask what Earth would be like without it.

What to say

Ask: what goes in, and what comes out?

Questions parents ask

What is the most common mistake with the greenhouse effect?

Your child thought greenhouse gases block or trap the incoming sunlight. Most sunlight passes through; the gases hold back heat the warm ground gives off.

How can I help my child with the greenhouse effect?

Ask: what goes in, and what comes out?

Are these 6th grade science worksheets free to print?

Yes. All 6 printable versions at each level are free to print, with the answer key, and no account is needed.

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