Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Chemistry 1SC0
Key Concepts in Chemistry
States of Matter and Mixtures
Chemical Changes
Extracting Metals and Equilibria
Groups in the Periodic Table
Rates of Reaction and Energy Changes
Fuels and Earth Science
Fuels and Earth Science
Today's atmosphere and evidence for climate change
- 3 things to know
- Paper 4
Overview
The correlation between carbon dioxide and temperature and why it is not proof, uncertainties in historical and local evidence, ice cores, the composition of today's atmosphere, human sources of carbon dioxide and methane, the effects of climate change and ways to limit it.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Explain how the consumption of fossil fuels is linked to rising carbon dioxide concentration.
Describe one uncertainty in the evidence that is caused by where the measurements are taken.
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Describe the correlation between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and average global temperature over the last two centuries.
Model answer
Both have risen over the same period, which is a positive correlation.
- 2
Explain why a correlation between carbon dioxide levels and temperature does not on its own prove that one causes the other.
Model answer
Two quantities can rise together for other reasons, so a mechanism and further evidence are needed before cause can be claimed.
- 3
Explain how the consumption of fossil fuels is linked to rising carbon dioxide concentration.
Model answer
Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, and the amount burned has risen over the same period as the concentration.
- 4
Describe one uncertainty in the evidence that is caused by where the measurements are taken.
Model answer
Readings taken in a city can be much higher than the global average because of nearby traffic and industry.
- 5
Explain why historical temperature records are less reliable than modern ones.
Model answer
Older measurements were made with less accurate instruments and covered far fewer places on the Earth.
- 6
Name a source of evidence about carbon dioxide levels from before instruments existed.
Model answer
Air bubbles trapped in ice cores record the composition of the atmosphere at the time the ice formed.
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