Researchers believe that high levels of CO2 in the classroom as a result of poor ventilation in schools can cause students to become drowsy. The data illustrated in these two graphs was gathered from a classroom with a volume of 10, 764 ft3 using a Logger Pro carbon dioxide sensor. The CO2 sensor was plugged into a laptop and left in the classroom for a given period of time to consistently record the amount of carbon dioxide in parts per millions.

 

The first graph depicts the data collected during an experiment in which the level of CO2 in the classroom was collected consistently from when the school day ended until the following morning. The second graph illustrates the data collected during an experiment in which the level of CO2 in a classroom was measured consistently throughout an entire school day. While the second graph shows that the level of CO2 in a classroom decreases when no one inhabits the classroom, the first graph demonstrates that the level of CO2 in a classroom increases when students are in the classroom. The decrease of CO2 in the classroom when classes are not in session, as shown in both graphs, implying that CO2 levels can decrease in a short amount of time when the room is uninhabited. 

Thus, the data show that the level of CO2 in the room increases when classes take place; however, CO2 levels can be managed by limiting the number of classes that occur in a classroom and ensuring that these classes do not occur consecutively. By limiting the level of CO2 in the classroom, schools may be able to decrease student drowsiness during the day.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. Wow! What a cool graph! It’s so cool that you took this reading and did your own research to test the theory you mentioned in your previous article!

  2. I believe the CO2 levels should be checked yearly in every classroom of every school. But where did you get the notion from? Finally, what in the CO2 makes people drowsy?

  3. I think this article was great because, people mainly get drowsy, or sleepyy during the day. So could this be the reason…how does carbon dioxide make you drowsy…:why

  4. THAT GRAPH WAS AWESOME!!!!!! GET SOME FACTS FROM THE RESEARCHERS ND IT WULD BE BETTER. ND WHERE DID YHU GET DA INFO WHEN YHU SAID CARBON DIOXIDE MAKE YHU DROWSY? OTHS THAN THAT YHU GUDD ON DA ARTICLE..

  5. I think this is intriguing although now I am quite scared to be in class now do to the fact I may die :arhh that is not cool i thought school should be safe!

  6. Great article! Very interesting and well done. However, where did you gather the information that CO2 makes students drowsy? What researchers claimed this?

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