SamsLair: 11/01/2018

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Moving On To Quantum Mechanics

In my previous postings, I’ve introduced the role of infrared radiation in the “greenhouse effect”. This necessitates some understanding of quantum physics. Thus, I shall begin to focus more attention upon this subject now, in addition to the role of classical physics.
Thus, consider the following NOVA video (53 minutes) that explores the world of mathematics and why it explains the physical world:
https://youtu.be/8mve0UoSxTo

Quantum Theory (55 minutes):
https://youtu.be/CBrsWPCp_rs

Also: Secrets of Quantum Physics
Playlist- about 55 minutes each:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxwClmYEhPdUT1oBLNvz37NZr63me8p6d

Greenhouse Effect Is About Infrared Light

“The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon of ‘radiative transfer” of heat, the process by which the energy of electromagnetic light waves (infrared and visible) is exchanged in matter. Radiative transfer dictates what energy is reflected, absorbed, and emitted.”
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-physics/chapter/global-warming/

When you stand in the sunlight, you feel warmer than when you are in shadow because you are being directly bathed in the radiant energy of long-waved infrared light and that produced by the short-waved visible light of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted from the sun. You are, also, being bathed in infrared energy (heat) being transferred from everything around you, as well as feeling the heat being conducted by the air around you.

“Although you usually cannot see it, all objects give off radiant energy and you can sometimes feel this energy. For example, if there is a pot of hot water on your stove, you can feel the radiant energy it gives off without touching it. You usually call what you feel “heat,” but it is more accurate to think of it as a kind of invisible light called “infrared radiation” that warms your skin...
The amount of infrared radiation energy a warmed object gives off depends on its temperature—the higher the temperature, the more energy is given off. As you know, you can easily distinguish between a warm object and a hot object by holding your hand near the objects and feeling the difference in the heating effect on your hand.”
Note: If a material becomes hot enough, it becomes radiantly luminous. It emits the higher energy short-wave visible light as well as longer-waved infrared light.

Conduction, convection, radiation:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ap2/chapter/energy-and-heat-balance/

http://alkisites.vansd.org/dgray/Assignments/conduction_convection_radiation_reading.pdf

https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/principles-heating-and-cooling

https://phys.libretexts.org/TextBooks_and_TextMaps/University_Physics/Book%3A_Physics_(Boundless)/13%3A_Heat_and_Heat_Transfer/13.5%3A_Global_Warming

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/climatesciencenarratives/what-is-the-greenhouse-effect.html

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Greenhouse Effect and Radiative Heat Transfer

Most of the heat that warms our biosphere comes to us in the form of Infrared Radiation (IR) that is easily absorbed by greenhouse gases as it both enters our atmosphere and as it is reradiated from the surface of the planet after being absorbed and reradiated.

A portion of visible light is, also, transformed into kinetic energy (heat) after it strikes the surface of our planet. This kinetic energy generates and re-emits long waved IR radiation in all directions. That which is radiated outwards is easily reabsorbed by the larger gaseous molecules in the atmosphere. As these greenhouse gas molecules increase their rate of kinetic vibration (heat), they re-emit IR in all directions

Note: Long waved IR is more easily absorbed than shorter waves visible light.
Also, add the incoming IR from the sun to the amount of IR and visible light that has already struck the Earth’s surface as is being reradiated as IR, and you soon find yourself grateful that the atmospheric greenhouse effect isn’t any stronger than it already is (though this is gradually changing).

Note: Thermal radiation is one of the three principal mechanisms of heat transfer. It entails the emission of a spectrum of electromagnetic radiation due to an object's temperature. Other mechanisms are convection and conduction. The interplay of energy exchange by thermal radiation is characterized by the following equation...

Read “interchange of Energy” section in Thermal Radiation:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation#Radiative_heat_transfer

Also:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer

Saturday, November 24, 2018

The Classical Physics and Quantum Mechanics of the Greenhouse Effect

The sun emits electromagnetic radiation, of which infrared light and visible light pass largely unimpeded through our atmosphere and strike Earth’s surface and are converted to kinetic energy (heat). This heat slowly radiates back to the atmosphere where the heavier air molecules reabsorb some of the long wave infrared radiation, thus converting it back into kinetic energy once again. As the air molecule heats up, it re-emits infrared radiation in all directions. Some escape into space, the rest are reabsorbed and re-emitted again, etcetera. This process of thermal radiation keeps our biosphere from freezing over.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_transfer

https://www.livescience.com/50260-infrared-radiation.html

The quantum mechanics of absorption and emission is most easily understood by reading:
https://scied.ucar.edu/carbon-dioxide-absorbs-and-re-emits-infrared-radiation
and by watching a short 5 minute video:
https://youtu.be/-EJOO3xAjTk

More about Greenhouse Effect in this blog (by relevance):
https://samslair.blogspot.com/search?q=Greenhouse+effect&m=1
(by date)
https://samslair.blogspot.com/search?q=Greenhouse+effect&max-results=20&by-date=true&m=1

Especially:
https://samslair.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-story-of-ir-infrared-radiation-and.html?m=1

Friday, November 23, 2018

An Oversimplified Explanation of the Greenhouse Effect

Electromagnetic radiation includes Infrared Radiation (IR) and visible light. Both pass thru the atmosphere and are absorbed by the surface of the Earth and converted to kinetic energy (heat). This heat is emitted back outward as thermal radiation aka IR. This IR is reabsorbed by the denser atmospheric gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, etcetera. This excites their structure and the resulting kinetic energy re-emits IR. Life on Earth is made possible by the capturing of enough IR to keep the biosphere warm enough to sustain life. As the heavier molecules in the atmosphere increase, the amount of IR also increases.

Thermal radiation
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation

https://science.nasa.gov/ems/13_radiationbudget

https://samslair.blogspot.com/search?q=Greenhouse+effect&max-results=20&by-date=true&m=1

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Crash Course in Atmospheric Physics

(8 videos / @ ten minute average)
In this series:
- Introduction to the atmosphere
- Radiation concepts
- Air parcels
- Stability in the atmosphere
- Thermal concepts and the first law of thermodynamics
- Absorption and emission spectra
- The stratospheric polar vortex
- Global warming
- Geoengineering

Note: In video #3, an incorrect statement is made indicating that atmospheric nitrogen N2 and oxygen O2 absorb heat. Video #4 is made to specifically correct that. It is the larger gaseous molecules that absorb IR heat. Those are the greenhouse gases:
• Water vapor (H2O)
* Carbon dioxide (CO)
* Methane (CH)
* Nitrous oxide (N2O)
* Ozone (O3)
* Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
* Hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs and HFCs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKoFqXoLV0Y&list=PLiZiIJMDh4ykRUFqr7RmTJHHyIxoW-DTL

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

The Story of (IR) Infrared Radiation and the Greenhouse Effect

In order to better appreciate the energy from the sun that sustains life on Earth, it behooves us to understand that:

Infrared radiation (IR) is popularly known as ‘heat radiation’. It and all electromagnetic waves (including light) of any frequency will heat surfaces that absorb them. Infrared light from the Sun accounts for 49% of the heating of Earth, with the rest being caused by light that passes through the atmosphere. The light energy that is converted to heat is absorbed and then re-radiated as IR at longer wavelengths.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared

“...the Sun does ‘not only’ produce IR, visible light, and UV. Fusion in the core actually gives off high energy gamma rays. However, as the gamma ray photons make their arduous journey to the surface of the Sun, they are continuously absorbed by the solar plasma and re-emitted to lower frequencies. By the time they get to the surface, their frequencies are mostly only within the IR/visible light/UV spectrum... then, when electromagnetic radiation from the Sun strikes the Earth’s atmosphere, some of it is absorbed while the rest proceed to the Earth’s surface. In particular, UV is absorbed by the ozone layer and re-emitted as heat, eventually heating up the stratosphere. Some of this heat is re-radiated to outer space while some is sent to the Earth’s surface.

In the meantime, the electromagnetic radiation that wasn’t absorbed by the atmosphere proceeds to the Earth’s surface and heats it up. Some of this heat stays there while the rest is re-emitted. Upon reaching the atmosphere, part of it gets absorbed and part of it passes through. Naturally, the ones that get absorbed add to the heat already there.
The presence of greenhouse gases make the atmosphere absorb more heat, reducing the fraction of outbound EM waves that pass through. Known as the greenhouse effect, this is the reason why heat can build up some more.”

Radiation from the sun:
https://www.universetoday.com/60065/radiation-from-the-sun/

Earth’s Atmosphere, Electromagnetic Radiation and the Greenhouse Effect:
https://samslair.blogspot.com/2018/11/earths-atmosphere-electromagnetic.html?m=1

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Is Global Warming Natural?

On the long term temperature graphs, the Milankovitch Cycles precede the global temperature changes and the CO2 levels follow. However, when vast amounts of CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere by huge basaltic flows (Flood Basalts) like those that created the Siberian Traps and the Deccan Traps, then CO2 leads the temperature increase no matter what is in progress with the Milankovitch Cycles. In our current situation, it is the unsequestration of tremendous volumes of carbon by the burning of fossil fuels that is causing the global temperature increases. This is being compounded by the additional release of land based methane and oceanic methane clathrate due to our warming biosphere.

We can only say that contemporary global warming is ‘natural’ if we ignore our role — otherwise we’d have to take responsibility and make things right (never mind that the biodiversity of all life on Earth is at stake). In short, we make lousy stewards of God’s Creation. It’s no wonder that He may need to kick our sorry asses to the curb.

Comeasurement of Water Vapor and Carbon Dioxide
https://samslair.blogspot.com/2019/08/global-warming-comeasurement-of-water.html?m=1

Monday, November 19, 2018

One Possible Consequence for Not Being Smart Enough to Understand the Greenhouse Effect

We could have another Great Extinction on Earth. Though God promised not to destroy us with another flood, He didn’t say that He would prevent us from destroying ourselves by fire — be it nuclear and or anthropogenic global warming. In any event, the Planet will be fine with us or without us; but, plant and animal life (includes us ‘naked apes’) will not. Even in the worst case scenario, life will start over and evolution rebuild new improved species. Eventually, higher sentient life will take over, and even if they try to repeat our mistakes, at least they won’t have the huge amount of fossil fuels to plunder and screw themselves over with. Perhaps, then, a more humane form of life can dominate when our reincarnated spirits remember (at some level) “what not to do”.

Understanding the Greenhouse Effect:

https://samslair.blogspot.com/search?q=Greenhouse+effect+&m=1

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Earth’s Atmosphere, Electromagnetic Radiation and the Greenhouse Effect

Why increased carbon dioxide causes global warming induced climate change:

“If we compare the Earth and its atmosphere to an apple and its skin, the skin of the apple is about 20 times thicker relative to the size of the apple than the atmosphere is to the size of the Earth.”
https://www.decodedscience.org/the-thin-skin-of-our-atmosphere/27278

“The Earth’s atmosphere is composed of the following molecules: nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), argon (1%), and then trace amounts of carbon dioxide, neon, helium, methane, krypton, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, xenon, ozone, iodine, carbon monoxide, and ammonia. Lower altitudes also have quantities of water vapor.”
https://www.universetoday.com/26656/composition-of-the-earths-atmosphere/

“All gases whose molecules have three or more atoms are greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O), and methane (CH4) are important greenhouse gases that have maintained Earth’s warm temperature for billions of years.”
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/climatesciencenarratives/what-is-the-greenhouse-effect.html

“Electromagnetic radiation is a stream of photons, which are 'massless' particles each traveling in a wave-like pattern and moving at the speed of light. Each photon contains a certain amount of energy, and all electromagnetic radiation consists of these photons. The only difference between the various types of electromagnetic radiation is the amount of energy found in the photons. Radio waves have photons with low energies, microwaves have a little more energy than radio waves, infrared has still more, then visible, ultraviolet, X-rays, and ... the most energetic of all ... gamma-rays. Electromagnetic radiation from space is unable to reach the surface of the Earth except at a very few wavelengths, such as the visible spectrum, radio frequencies, and some ultraviolet wavelengths.”
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2018/11/electromagnetic-science-and-greenhouse.html?m=1

“Visible light of the ‘electromagnetic spectrum’ passes through the atmosphere. It strikes and warms the surface of Earth as the result of being converted to infrared radiation (IR). Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases absorb and reradiate this heat. It is this heat index that is increased as the volume of greenhouse gases increases in the atmosphere.”
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2018/10/understanding-greenhouse-effect.html?m=1

Friday, November 16, 2018

The Greenhouse Effect Is Really More Of A Blanketing Effect

In the end, our future will have been largely determined by mankind’s ability to fully comprehend the science that says higher energy visible light transfers some of its energy to whatever it strikes and that converts to heat and is radiated outward into the atmosphere where the larger molecules such as water, CO2, methane and nitrous oxide absorb and reradiate it, thus creating a blanket effect we erroneously call the greenhouse effect.

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/climatesciencenarratives/a-greenhouse-effect-analogy.html

http://climatechange.lta.org/get-started/learn/co2-methane-greenhouse-effect/

Do Polar Vortices Mean An End To The Notion Of Global Warming?

As we experience cold winter weather, the angst about global warming slightly eases. Never mind the fact that winter storms in Alaska are 20+ degrees Fahrenheit above average. After all, when those temperature readings are 30 below zero, who can feel the difference?

Global Warming: About Polar Vortices
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2018/10/global-warming-about-polar-vortex.html?m=1

Does Polar Vortex Mean 'So Much for Global Warming’?
https://www.livescience.com/43033-polar-vortex-means-record-warm-alaska.html

Climate Change In Alaska
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/03/climate_change_is_already_affecting_alaska_s_weather.html

Nerdy attempt at humor:
https://xkcd.com/1321/

Too cold to snow?:
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/does-global-warming-mean-more-or-less-snow/

Milankovitch Cycles and the Greenhouse Effect

No one can rationally say that the world’s average temperatures have NOT demonstrably begun to increase. Some believe this warming is caused by the Milankovitch cycle — however, the scientist, Milankovitch, had predicted global cooling. His peers pointed out that this is what might have occurred under normal conditions, but that increasing CO2 levels would overwhelmingly counteract such gradual cooling changes. And, indeed, if it weren’t for the Milankovitch cycle dampening the rate of temperature increase, we would be experiencing a much more dramatic warming.

So, instead of employing denial as a psychological defense mechanism against the terror called global warming, we all need to both intelligently adapt to our changing world AND to address the source of the problem (our unsequestration of carbon to fuel our machinery).

Note: If we don’t change our direction, we’ll wind up exactly where we’re headed.

Milankovitch Cycle:
https://www.universetoday.com/39012/milankovitch-cycle/

Global cooling vs warming:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GISSTemperature/giss_temperature2.php

Milankovitch and Physical Science
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2001/jun/28/physicalsciences.highereducation

Mann’s hockey stick was too short:

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/mt/science/marcott-B-CD.jpg

https://samslair.blogspot.com/2018/11/michael-manns-hockey-stick-was-too-short.html?m=1

Thursday, November 15, 2018

God’s Creation Is All•ways Ongoing

“The Ascended Masters desire you to know that if the Creator were not actively engaged in the process of creation from moment to moment, Creation would not be sustained. This ongoing action of creation is sustained by the internal Fires of the Love of God’s Heart for all of Creation. Understanding this, you begin to glimpse the infinite possibilities open to you to direct some of that creative energy to produce the miracle of Perfection and transformation in your life. Love and Compassion is the engine that drives this entire universe on. Through the alliance of your Heart with the Heart of God, you may stimulate that Heart to begin to create in wonderful ways that can affect you. Your role is to give the call and to authorize the Presence to be the doer, to engage the action that is taking place at the level of the Presence. The Will of God is supreme and desires to bestow the very best upon every single part of life. The Golden Plume is the Mind of God that, at this very moment, is conceiving, holding, and nurturing patterns of Perfection. The formula of Attainment outlined by the Ascended Masters for us is to invoke the Light of that Presence, to complete the Law of Octaves, and to let all within the world of the Presence saturate and permeate our universe. Disengage your thoughts from the harshness of the outer world and put your Heart in the hand of your own God Presence.”

“The Ongoing Action of Creation"
(1 hour discourse)
https://youtu.be/TC5na-kH76s

God’s Creation Is Ongoing Always
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2018/03/gods-creation-is-ongoing-always.html?m=1

Comment: We could have another Great Extinction on Earth. Though God promised not to destroy us with another flood, He didn’t say that He would prevent us from destroying ourselves by fire — be it nuclear and or anthropogenic global warming. In any event, the Planet will be fine with us or without us; but, plant and animal life (includes us ‘naked apes’) will not. Even in the worst case scenario, life will start over and evolution rebuild new improved species. Eventually, higher sentient life will take over, and even if they try to repeat our mistakes, at least they won’t have the huge amount of fossil fuels to plunder and screw themselves over with. Perhaps, then, a more humane form of life can dominate when our reincarnated spirits remember (at some level) “what not to do”.

Electromagnetic Science and the Greenhouse Effect

Electromagnetic radiation is a stream of photons, which are 'massless' particles each traveling in a wave-like pattern and moving at the speed of light. Each photon contains a certain amount of energy, and all electromagnetic radiation consists of these photons. The only difference between the various types of electromagnetic radiation is the amount of energy found in the photons. Radio waves have photons with low energies, microwaves have a little more energy than radio waves, infrared has still more, then visible, ultraviolet, X-rays, and ... the most energetic of all ... gamma-rays.

Actually, the electromagnetic spectrum can be expressed in terms of energy, wavelength, or frequency. Each way of thinking about the EM spectrum is related to the others in a precise mathematical way. So why do we have three ways of describing things, each with a different set of physical units? After all, frequency is measured in cycles per second (which is called a Hertz), wavelength is measured in meters, and energy is measured in electron volts.

Note:
Electromagnetic radiation from space is unable to reach the surface of the Earth except at a very few wavelengths, such as the visible spectrum, radio frequencies, and some ultraviolet wavelengths. Hence, the reason I’ve included this posting in my series on the greenhouse effect and global warming induced climate change.

Read:
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html
More about the Electromagnetic Spectrum:
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l2/emspectrum.html

Now read:
The Multiwavelength Universe
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/multiwavelength.html

Imagine the Universe Science:
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/science.html

Fear, The Mind Killer

Global warming is terrifying, and given the general level of mankind’s greed and stupidity in the past, present and foreseeable future, it’s probably undiminishable. Indeed, even if all humans completely stopped burning fossil fuels, the warming trend would continue irregardless because of the volume of greenhouse gases already in the biosphere. The best we can do is to slow down the rate that warming occurs.

Note: The most common human defense mechanism when you can’t run away and hide from something that is fearful is to deny, deny, deny ‘til the bitter end’ (as though living the lie can somehow save you). This, however, will not break our ‘dependence’ [No, wait... our addiction] upon fossil fuels and the fertilizer production that fosters extended nitrous oxide release. https://samslair.blogspot.com/search?
q=Fear&max-results=20&by-date=false&m=1

Greenhouse Gases:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas

Nitrous oxide:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide

http://theconversation.com/meet-n2o-the-greenhouse-gas-300-times-worse-than-co2-35204

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fertilizer-produces-far-more-greenhouse-gas-expected

https://news.berkeley.edu/2012/04/02/fertilizer-use-responsible-for-increase-in-nitrous-oxide-in-atmosphere/

How long greenhouse gases remain after being released:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jan/16/greenhouse-gases-remain-air

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Africa’s Oldest Baobab Trees Are Dying Suddenly

Africa’s baobab trees, the largest and longest-living flowering plants in the world, are dying at a startling rate...nine of the 13 oldest African baobabs (Adansonia digitata)—all more than 1,000 years old—and five of the six largest individuals have partially or completely died in the last 12 years. While the cause of the die-off is not yet certain, climate change has already been pegged as the likely cause.”

“When around 70% of your 1,500- to 2,000-year-old trees died within 12 years, it certainly is not normal. None of the trees showed obvious signs of infection and the pattern of deaths did not fit what would be expected had the die-off been caused by a contagious disease. We suspect this is associated with increased temperature and drought...”
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/africas-oldest-baobab-trees-are-dying-suddenly-64321

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/baobab-trees-dying-climate-change/562499/

Hockey Stick Was Too Short

“Back in 1999 Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann released the climate change movement's most potent symbol: The "hockey stick”, a line graph of global temperature over the last 1,500 years that shows an unmistakable, massive uptick in the twentieth century when humans began to dump large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It's among the most compelling bits of proof out there that human beings are behind global warming, and as such has become a target on Mann's back for climate denialists looking to draw a bead on scientists.

Now it's gotten a makeover: A study published reconstructs global temperatures further back than ever before -- a full 11,300 years. The new analysis finds that the only problem with Mann's hockey stick was that its handle was about 9,000 years too short...”

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/mt/science/marcott-B-CD.jpg

11,000 years worth of climate change data:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/03/were-screwed-11-000-years-worth-of-climate-data-prove-it/273870/

More of the ‘rest of the story’:
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2019/10/interglacial-temps-tempered-by-younger.html?m=1

Short Comments Relating to AGW:
http://samslair.blogspot.com/2019/12/short-comments-relating-to-agw.html?m=1

Even if one looks only at the past 1,000 years, when all of the different ‘hockey stick graphs’ are overlaid, it becomes apparent that ‘at no point’ did global overall temperatures ever rise higher than what we’re experiencing now —
“The Truth Behind Mann’s Hockey Stick” (4 minutes) — the above statement is found at the two minute mark:
https://youtu.be/r9jtVZ3RUCU

COMICS: Laughter Is the Best Medicine

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