Graphing the Thermal Expansion of Water

Background
Humans are only able to live on Earth because of a "greenhouse effect." Without this our world would have
been too cold for life to have colonized the surface of the planet. Life subsequently "terraformed" Earth: living
organisms, cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, "made" the oxygen we humans need to survive. Life today is
the product of changes in Earth's atmosphere caused by ancient life. Climate change is natural and real:
without it we would not exist. But all this happened over millions and millions of years. Climate change today
is also real, but it's happening during our lifetime and many experts consider our way of life
industrialization and the use of fossil fuels to be the primary cause. In order to understand the present
climate and what may be ahead, scientists are collecting information stored in rocks, ice, and sediment to
understand Earth's climate history. They are taking the ocean's temperature and measuring the extent of seaice cover. They are probing beneath thick glaciers and drilling through multi-million year old ice sheets. They
are recording carbon dioxide and methane levels. And most of this exploration and research is happening in
the polar regions. In terms of global climate change, the Poles turn out to be more sensitive than anywhere
else on Earth. Climate change, in a sense, begins at the ends
our planet.

INVESTIGATION: Thermal expansion and

its impact
Objective
Observe the effect of thermal expansion on water
level
Significance
If global temperatures increase, many scientists have indicated that an increase in sea level is the most
likely secondary effect. Two factors will contribute to this accelerated rise in sea level. First, although
the oceans have an enormous heat storage capacity, if global atmospheric temperatures rise, the
oceans will absorb heat and expand ("thermal expansion") leading to a rise in sea level. Second,
warmer temperatures will cause ice currently locked up in glaciers and snowfields on land to melt,
thereby increasing the amount of water in the oceans. An accelerated rise in sea level would inundate
coastal wetlands and lowlands, increase the rate of shoreline erosion, exacerbate coastal flooding,
raise water tables, threaten coastal structures, and increase the salinity of rivers, bays, and aquifers.

Investigate/Explain
Materials: (for each group)

conical
flask
table lamp
two-hole
cork for flask
table lamp
thin glass
tube

IB Diploma Biology 2014/2015/2016

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Procedure:
Completely fill the flask with very cold water (to improve visibility, dye can be added.)
Place the cork in the stopper. Slide the thermometer and glass tube in the holes in the
cork. The water should rise a short way into the tube.
Fix the strip of graph paper to the glass tube, in order to make a scale from which you
can take readings.
Record both the temperature of the water and the water level in the glass.
Write a prediction of what will happen to the water level when the flask is exposed to
heat and explain the prediction you make.
Place the flask the lamp over or beside the flask. Turn on the lamp and record
measurements every 2 minutes.

Processing and Analysing results:

1.
Make a graph of the results obtained in this thermal expansion investigation.
2.
Summarize the results of the lab and relate the results to the problems of global
warming and sea level rise.
3.
Design an experiment using ice cubes to test the hypothesis that melting ice will make
sea levels rise.

Discussion:
Why did the level of water in the flask change? This is the important biochemistry
question what are the physical properties of water which lead to its thermal expansion?
What does this experiment suggest might occur if the oceans warm? Consider the
possible impacts of sea-level rise in low-lying coastal areas such as Bangladesh or South
Florida or Rotterdam.
If global warming is not sufficient to cause significant snow and ice melt, would you
expect this thermal expansion to be enough to cause coastal flooding and erosion problems?
Which would you expect to have a greater effect on sea level the melting of Arctic
sea-ice, the Greenland ice cap, or ice sheets in the Antarctic? (This is a bit of a trick question:
the melting of sea-ice has no effect on sea levels, except in "uncorking" glaciers and ice
streams which then can flow more easily down into the ocean. It's dynamic ice sheets such as
that in Greenland and in West Antarctica that could, potentially, have a major impact on sea
level. East Antarctica, for now, seems relatively stable, and actually seems to be gaining ice.)

John Osborne
February 2015

IB Diploma Biology 2014/2015/2016