Glenn, you have encouraged us to question with boldness. I would like to share with you the results of this questioning.
In my research on greenhouse gases, I Googled “atmosphere of earth” and came to the Wikipedia page “Atmosphere of Earth". (Wikipedia) If you scroll down to the pie graph under the heading, “Composition”, you will notice that the composition of the earth’s atmosphere is 78.084% nitrogen, 20.946% oxygen, 0.9340% argon, and 0.038% greenhouse gases. If you look at the pie graph you see the nitrogen (purple), oxygen (blue), argon (white sliver), and the greenhouse gases are so minute that they are indiscernible on the graph and must be displayed in the second pie graph in light blue below, a mere 0.037680% of the earth’s atmosphere.
After decades of attending the College of Common Sense, these facts jump out at you and you say to yourself, they're trying to scam us. Just reason, how could something of such insignificant dimension have an influence over something of such large dimension? The greenhouse gases would have to absorb 2583 times more heat than the rest of the atmosphere does in order to have an effect, which is a near impossibility, particularly when you view that carbon dioxide represents the largest amount of the greenhouse gases. Why do I make this statement? Carbon dioxide is used in some refrigeration systems as a refrigerant in cascade with ammonia systems. However, it is recognized as being a very poor refrigerant because it is not a good heat medium. In order to extract heat from carbon dioxide at an ambient temperature of 80 degrees you would have to run the head pressure/condenser at 969 pounds per square inch compared to ammonia which would require only 153 ppsi. This helps to demonstrate that carbon dioxide is not the heat medium that it is propounded to be and would need to be.
Next I Googled “greenhouse gas” and came to the Wikipedia page “Greenhouse Gas”. (Wikipedia)The explanation of greenhouse gas is as follows: “Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range.” This sounds very technical and really scientific. Individuals not completely understanding the verbiage could get confused into believing that greenhouse gases have dramatic properties, which they don’t. On a cold winter day you walk up to a wood burning stove and you immediately sense the heat. This is thermal infrared radiation. In fact, the entire surface of the earth, including the oceans, absorbs heat and radiates it back into the atmosphere. That is why we are able to say on a very hot day that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk, because of the absorption of heat. As the day cools you can feel the thermal infrared radiation coming from the pavement. As far as radiated absorbed heat, the volume from the earth and the oceans is certainly much more than that which comes back from the so-called greenhouse gases. Water is the only true greenhouse gas, as supported by the North Atlantic Current which warms the eastern coast of Europe. (Middlebury) I believe that an honest study of the facts will prove that these so-called greenhouse gases do not create a greenhouse effect; whatever effect they have is too minimal to be taken seriously. Any global warming is not the result of greenhouse gases but possibly the result of cosmic or other influences.
We now have legislation being presented that could easily kill our economy. “We the people” are not going to drink the “kool-aid”.
I would like to challenge anyone to prove to me that carbon dioxide, at atmospheric pressure, can absorb the amount of heat necessary to cause global warming. Remember that the dimension we are talking about is 2583-to-1 ratio: Do the Math! To the first person proving me wrong I will gladly give $500.00.* To the gamblers in Las Vegas: Which side would you put your money on: the student from the College of Common Sense or the "kool-aid" drinkers from some Ivy League Elitist College?
To those accepting this challenge please e-mail your facts to: Paul@psnorac.com by clicking on E-mail us here or at left.
As I researched greenhouse gases the concentration of reasoning seemed to be that carbon dioxide absorbs more heat than the rest of the atmosphere, which it does, but not in the dimension to create the greenhouse gas effect that is being espoused.
Jamie and Adam of the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters" created an experiment using carbon dioxide in one container and comparing it to normal air in another container. They placed ice in both of these containers; then they observed the rate in which the ice melted. They noticed that the ice in the carbon dioxide container melted noticeably faster than that in the normal air container. Having worked with cryogenics, I would estimate that this was a 3-to-2 ratio; this is only a guess.
Individuals observing this demonstration might conclude that it confirms carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. However, it does not answer the question of the ratio factor. In order to prove carbon dioxide to be effective as a greenhouse gas the demonstration would have to have, as an example, one ice cube in the normal air container with 2583 ice cubes in the carbon dioxide container. The ice in the carbon dioxide container would have to melt entirely before the ice in the normal air container melted. Let's remember that the advocates of greenhouse gases say that it is the additional 100 parts per million they theorize the industrialization of the world has added to the atmosphere that is causing the greenhouse effect. If this were true, in our demonstration we would have to increase the 2583 ice cubes dramatically, approximately three times, to prove their theory to be feasible.
To further clarify this ratio it could be expressed that more than one and a quarter tons of ice would have to melt in a pure carbon dioxide atmosphere before one pound of ice melts in a normal air atmosphere.
