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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2006  > February  >
In the Laboratory
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
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
Cover
February 2006
Vol. 83 No. 2
p. 263
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.
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*  Contents JCE2006p0263W.doc (Microsoft Word)
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*  Citation
 Myrick, M. L.; Greer, A. E.; Nieuwland, A.; Priore, R. J.; Scaffidi, J.; Andreatta, Danielle; Colavita, Paula. J. Chem. Educ. 2006 83 263.
*  Keywords
 Applications of Chemistry; Environmental Chemistry; Gases; Graduate Education / Research; Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives; Laboratory Instruction; Molecular Properties / Structure; Physical Chemistry; Quantum Chemistry; Upper-Division Undergraduate; UV-Vis Spectroscopy
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 1/5/2006
1/9/2006
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