Greenhouse effect Arrhenius

Among other contributions of Arrhenius, the most important were probably in chemical kinetics (Chapter 11). In 1889 he derived the relation for the temperature dependence of reaction rate. In quite a different area in 1896 Arrhenius published an article, "On the Influence of Carbon Dioxide in the Air on the Temperature of the Ground." He presented the basic idea of the greenhouse effect, discussed in Chapter 17. 

Ramanathan, V., and A. M. Vogelmann, Atmospheric Greenhouse Effect, Excess Solar Absorption and the Radiation Budget From the Arrhenius/Langley Era to the 1990s, Ambio, 26, 38-46 (1997). 

E. Crawford, Arrhenius From Ionic Theory to the Greenhouse Effect, Science History Publications, Canton, MA, 1996. 

Global warming was not a new idea. The mechanism of the greenhouse effect —carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps the sun s heat and helps keep the earth warm—had long been known. Some of the greatest nineteenth-century scientists discussed whether humans would warm the earth by burning coal. In 1908, a widely read book by the renowned Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius predicted that the effect might show up within a few centuries. 

Swedish chemist Svante August Arrhenius (1859-1927) received a PhD. from the University of Uppsala. Threatened with a low passing grade on his dissertation because his examiners did not understand his thesis on ionic dissociation, he sent the work to several scientists, who subsequently defended it. His dissertation earned Arrhenius the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry. He was the first to describe the greenhouse effect, predicting that as concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) increase, so will Earth s surface temperature (Section 9.0). 

Arrhenius, Svante August won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the electrical conductivity of salt solutions (he was also nominated for the Physics Prize). He is often hailed as a pioneer of modern environmentalism for his work on the greenhouse effect. One of his predictions was that the United States might pump its last barrel of oil in 1935. Fortunately he was proved wrong, but his concern about the world s natural mineral resources and the need for alternative sources of energy was prescient. He died in 1927 at age 68. 

Arrhenius, Svante Ausust (1859-1927) Swedish physical chemist who, in 1884, was the first to propose that acids, bases, and salts in solution dissociated into ions. His theory of electrolytic dissociation was well before its time and was not scientifically confirmed until the theory of atomic structure was more fully developed. He also worked on reaction rates, and was the first to recognize the greenhouse effect on climate. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1903. 

Parked cars are similar to greenhouses, which people have used for centuries to protect plants from cold weather. The Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius, who you may remember from the previous chapter (for his theory of ionic solutions), realized that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts like the glass in a greenhouse. His calculations, published in 1898, were the first to show how sensitive the temperature of the earth might be to the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Arrhenius s reference to the earth s atmospheric envelope, with its carbon dioxide, as a hothouse has evolved into our present-day term greenhouse effect. 

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