Question

According to this page at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) website, the global average temperature from the years 1880 through 2017 increased by 0.8 degrees celsius. This does not sound like a lot…

It takes 1.0035 joules of energy to raise the temperature of one gram of air by one degree celsius. Using that, determine

(a) the amount of energy that has been added to the atmosphere to achieve the 0.8 degree increase, and

(b) how much mass that energy could lift one meter at the surface of the Earth.

(c) Research: Search around and find an object, or a collection of objects, that have approximately the same mass as your answer to part (b). Tell me what you find, and cite your sources, and show your calculations, if any, for this part.

You are missing some information; find it, and cite your sources.

Answer 1

From online sources, we can find average mean mass of dry atmosphere to be about 5.14*10^18 kg
at this mass, given that 1.0035 J energy is required to raise temerature of 1 gram of air by 1 C

a. hence total energy required to raise temeprature of whole atmosphere by 0.8 C is
E = 1.0035*5.14*10^15 = 5157990000000000 J

b. now lets say mass M could be lifted by this energy off 1 meter off the earth's surface
then from conservation fo eenrgy
5157990000000000 = M*9.81*1
M = 525788990825.6880733 kilo gram = 52.578*10^10 kg

c. A mountain has an average range of mass about 10^12 kg , and many small asteroids have mases in this range