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Fine-Structure Measurements of Oxygen A Band Absorbance for Estimating the Thermodynamic Average Temperature of the Earth's Atmosphere. An Experiment in Physical and Environmental Chemistry

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M. L. Myrick , A. E. Greer , A. Nieuwland , R. J. Priore , J. Scaffidi , Daniele Andreatta and Paula Colavita

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208

J. Chem. Educ., 2006, 83 (2), p 263

DOI: 10.1021/ed083p263

Publication Date (Web): February 1, 2006

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

The rotational fine structure observable in a forbidden electronic absorbance of diatomic oxygen in the earth's atmosphere can be observed as a series of minima in the solar spectrum near 762 nm wavelength. The relative intensities of these rotational fine-structure lines can be used quantitatively to estimate the average temperature of the atmosphere along the path taken by sunlight to the observer. Measured values for temperature vary from day to day and season to season and are generally far lower than ambient temperatures because of averaging over the depth of the atmosphere. These experimentally determined thermodynamic temperatures can be compared to Web-based atmospheric models for particular locations and times to illustrate the fact that they are average values.

Keywords (Audience):

Upper-Division Undergraduate

Keywords (Domain):

Environmental Chemistry

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives

Keywords (Subject):

Applications of Chemistry

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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

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  Developments in the physical chemistry laboratory since the publication of the germinal text by Schwenz and Moore (1) are categorized and reviewed. The categories examined include modern instrumentation, current topics in chemistry, integrated ...
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