Abstract
This study presents an analysis of the results of the experiments made by Eunice Foote (EF), around the mid of 19th century, on the temperature increase of common gases (such as air and carbon dioxide) when heated by solar radiation. Eunice Foote (EF) is nowadays presented as a woman researcher whose contribution to scientific development in the 19th century has been largely ignored. EF was the author of an article titled “Circumstances affecting the Heat of the Sun’s Rays” which contains some statements about a higher temperature increase of carbon dioxide with respect to air when heated by the sun's rays. This article is considered by some science historians as the first experimental proof of the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide, a theme that is mentioned by the media every day. This analysis of EF experiments is carried out numerically using one chemical engineering process simulation software, with the aim of reproducing her results. Simulated results cannot reproduce EF experiments and are used to evidence some incongruencies in the experimental results. In the end, for the same absorbed energy, a simple heat balance on the gases considered shows that the temperature rise of carbon dioxide would be lower than that shown by air.
