Collisional De-Excitement vs. IR Reversal.
OK guys, time to bear down and put this ridiculous Greenhouse Warming Theory to rest. Remember the Earth Balance chart shown below? You know, the one that shows Infrared Radiation coming back to Earth after running into a mass of Carbon Dioxide floating around in the Atmosphere. Well, it ain't true..
A. I'VE BECOME A "DENIER" AND FOR GOOD SCIENTIFIC REASON.
Since I started this quest to understand Global Warming several months ago, I've spent literally hundreds of hours collecting, collating and reading all kinds of documents, articles and research papers written on the subject. Early on I suspected that there were problems with the "science" of carbon dioxide heat "capture and hold" mechanisms that acted as an atmospheric greenhouse to return heat to earth leading to a slow temperature rise. It didn't make sense but I didn't have any real data to back up my gut feelings on the subject.
I am now certain that the whole scenario is pure hogwash because the so called science just doesn't hold up to scrutiny. There are far too many holes in the theory, starting with the reliance on important assumptions (for example, that C02 is a "black body") that are not really valid. The shame of it all is that the contrary information I found by searching the internet has been published and has been presented to the IPCC and is supported by multitudes of scientists - yet the proponents of C02 driven global warming are dramatically winning the media driven battle to influence the public to believe them without question and to follow their instructions on what to do to "save the Planet".
B. IPCC DESCRIPTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS GLOBAL WARMING.
My interpretation - After receiving heat from the Sun, the Earth uses a variety of mechanisms (reflection, scattering, evaporation, warm air thermals, IR radiation) to force that heat to return to outer space. In this way it is able to maintain a balance between incoming (sun) heat and outgoing (earth) heat. One of those mechanisms is to simply radiate the heat back to space in the form of long wave infra red waves. Within the wide range emanated by the Earth three wavelengths (about 8% of the total waves) stand out (2.3, 4.6, 14.77). These are important to us because it has been shown that C02 can absorb IR radiation if it is delivered to the molecule at any one of these three wavelengths. All other wavelengths simply cannot be absorbed and so pass on unrestricted to outer space.
The Greenhouse Effect Theory says that C02 absorbs enough rising IR energy to cause it to enter its own higher molecular state of energy (visualized below), caused by an electron shift within the molecule as it absorbs ALL of the IR wave energy in the striking bandwidth. This is known as the Compton effect.
Apparently the molecule doesn't hold it for long as it quickly re-radiates this IR energy away from the C02 molecule BUT this time radiation is in all directions. Roughly half of the C02 emitted IR wave travels upward and presumably goes to space and roughly half of it points down and apparently returns to Earth.
This "back radiation" to Earth by C02 of IR energy shifts the Earth's energy balance between heat gained (now Sun and returned IR energy) and heat lost (Earth mechanisms including IR) that causes a slow net growth of heat within the Earth itself which is measured as a rise in the global temperature. The phenomenon has been labelled Global Warming and the consequences of a small global temperature rise due to this net heat retention are considered to be monumental and disastrous. The concept of Global Warming has been expanded to that of Climate Change, but this is just a relabelling of the original concept based on the Greenhouse Theory.
An important distinction that the IPCC version of Greenhouse Theory makes is that it assumes that the Earth and a molecule of Carbon Dioxide are both "black bodies". A black body is a material that is a perfect emitter and absorber of heat energy that is assigned an emissivity value of 1.0. A material with an emissivity value of 0 would be considered a perfect thermal mirror (100% reflection) with no emitter or absorption capability whatsoever. Liquid water has a value of .94 as does flat black paint and roofing paper for comparison purposes. Polished tin is .06, not absorbing any significant incoming IR because it reflects that IR away from its surface instead of taking it up.
Emissivity is a measurement that is valuable in industry as it defines the relationship of liquids and solids to their radiant environments. It is extremely difficult to relate it to gases as variables are huge and ability to measure is almost non existent. Nevertheless some researchers have managed to "measure" it and to give carbon dioxide a value.
Now this is important! Carbon Dioxides value is apparently .0024. It has almost no absorptivity or emissivity at all yet it is assumed to be more efficient than black paper in receiving and sending IR waves. This is the Earth's heat blanket?
Carbon Dioxide is the major culprit (there are other GHG's but less important) in the Greenhouse Theory scenario and growth of global C02 levels is unacceptable to believers and more so to alarmists. They demand that the world change its ways and eliminate petroleum based fuels of all kinds eventually shifting to a non carbon based world. In this way, they say, we will save the Earth and ourselves from Armageddon.
C. DISPERSION BY KINETIC TRANSFER. AND IT'S FAST...
Collisional De-Excitement - Blog #1 on thermodynamics talked about how C02 probably didn't re-radiate the energy it absorbs at all (a key part of global warming theory) but rather that it dissipates its energy by bumping into some of the 2500 molecules of N2 or O2 that surround each molecule of C02 - transferring its absorbed infrared energy to those molecules in the form of kinetic energy. This physical transfer strips the C02 molecule of its recently added IR energy and sends the excited air molecules as a "thermal" up (not down) to the top of the atmosphere where the heat is finally dissipated into outer space.
Just envision a balloon rising due to it's inner atmosphere of lighter than air gas such as helium, or hot air balloons moving upward as the inside is warmed by blasts of fire. Having had the experience of "holding down" the ground ropes on a large balloon I can attest to the fact that the force pulling that entrapped mass of air upward is very strong indeed.
This mass is composed of molecules of air moving and colliding, spreading the uneven heat out amongst itself and exerting a constant pressure upwards compared to the cooler air outside the balloon, which falls to displace the air that has left the scene as it travels to the edge of outer space.
D. HOW DOES THIS BLOG DISPUTE THE "GREENHOUSE THEORY"?
RAMEN EFFECT TYPE ABSORPTION / DISSIPATION - this blog looks at the thermodynamics of C02 itself and in particular how it receives IR radiation (heat) sent out from an warm Earth, followed by a description of what the molecule does with this absorbed heat. It summarizes the work of a prominent researcher who models C02 absorption / emission on the Raman Effect rather than the IPCC accepted Compton Effect.
The Ramen Effect says that collisions of IR radiant energy with Carbon Dioxide Molecules only strips away a small amount of the energy of incident wave, and this process nullifies any ability to create a "back radiation" effect that would result in Earth warming.
Blog II is much more specific than Blog I as it deals quantitatively with the amounts of energy being absorbed and discarded by the C02 molecule demonstrating through the "Math" that the whole concept of C02 capturing and re-transmitting IR heat back to the Earth is simply not possible and is simply not happening. This rejection of IPCC back Greenhouse Theory defeats the whole concept of C02 based Global Warming and negates the demands for climate action by the Earth's citizens.
But - Be Aware that-
Ramen Effect Absorption - Blog II is based primarily on two articles that have been linked below. They are controversial in that they go against common thinking about energy absorption that dictates photons must be absorbed as whole units or not absorbed at all. Instead they present an argument that says partial absorption is possible (and apparently it is - see Ramen effect) and that this predominates with respect to C02 absorption of IR energy waves.
The papers are difficult to read to the average person without a scientific background. I will give a link to them for access to the unaltered story and then try to interpret them in "layman's language" to make them easier to comprehend.
Please forgive me purists! This blog is for regular people who are presently being lied to and need help in forming any counter opinions to the onslaught of demands for conformity to draconian rules.
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D. CHALLENGING IPCC DESIGNATION OF C02 AS A BLACK BODY.
A critical assumption was made by IPCC when creating and accepting the results of models showing that C02 absorbs and emits Infrared radiation given off by the earth. This assumption is that C02 is a "black body", a theoretical emitter / absorber that is assigned a value of 1.0 indicating complete absorption and complete re-emittance of electromagnetic energy. The button below measures C02 at .0024 a critical argument.
This next paper does the math on energy exchanges involving C02, using the actual emissivety value of .0024 determined in the paper above.
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E. A SCIENTIST'S INTERPRETATION OF THESE PAPERS.
There's a huge amount of confusion caused by the sheer complexity of the science of radiant energy quantum physics. We are going to try to simplify an extremely complex subject so that it is readable to the normal person. I include myself in this category as I strain to keep the concepts in perspective with reality. So I found a video that gives the basics, which I follow with my attempt to make a working model that we can apply to the physics of the carbon dioxide molecule.
1. The "Life Force" that we commonly call "energy" can be found in the world of Quantum Physics in the form of discrete particles of energy commonly called "photons". The amount of Energy that composes a particle is expressed as Joules, BTU's or Electron volts.
2. These discrete particles travel in the form of oscillating electromagnetic waves as they move through space. The frequency of any electromagnetic wave is determined by the quantity of energy that the photon / quantum particle is holding. Each wavelength in the spectrum represents photons of different energies.
3. Strongly "energized" molecules (ie. with excited electron states) may reduce their own internal unstabl energy state by emitting new photons towards materials or molecules that are at a lower energy (not higher) state than themselves (like water flowing downhill).
4. A "Black Body" is a theoretical molecule / material that is capable of absorbing 100% of any and all electromagnetic waves that are sent to it. Conversely, a "Black Body" is capable of emitting 100% of the excess internal energy available within its structure residing as excited electron states. A true black body is given an emissivity value of 1.0.
5. In reality there is no such thing as a perfect black body. Some materials come close such as black products like pure carbon soot or flat black paint and roofing paper with absorbances and emittance values close to 1.0 (black body). High reflectance materials such as polished metals don't absorb at all as they physically reflect waves away from their surfaces with no penetration into their molecular structures. Their emissivity values are close to 0.
In comparison, atmospheric carbon dioxide emissivity is measured at .0024, no where near pure carbon soot @.95 or even water at .95 ! This means C02 instead falls in the ranges of polished metals, or practically pure reflectors of the electromagnetic waves striking them. We should be more concerned about water vapour absorption by this reasoning.
6. "Heat" as we know it is photon energy that is emitted or absorbed as electromagnetic waves ranging in frequencies from around 2 to 25 um. These waves are called long wave infrared rays and are sent out from objects such as the Earth, as opposed to short wave infrared (.6 to 4 um) sent to Earth by the Sun. The energy present as "heat" is expressed as Joules or BTU's. We measure the amount of heat in an object as temperature.
7.) Carbon Dioxide ignores all wavelengths in the IR spectrum except for a couple of minor waves (2.3, 4.7) and the major IR wave sent @ 14.77 um. Photons composing electromagnetic waves other than these three specific values pass on by carbon dioxide molecules or bounce off them unaffected by any contact they may have had with it.
8. Particles travelling at 2.3, 4.6, 14.77 um that contact carbon dioxide molecules are capable of transferring some (but not all) of their energy into the C02 molecular structure. In practice the amount transferred into the molecule is only .2% of the energy being carried by the IR photon, not 100% of the energy that would happen if C02 was a true "black body".
HOWEVER - The IPCC, in its wisdom and its models, has declared that C02 is indeed a "black body" that it is capable of absorbing ALL of the energy of the photon / quanta when it is struck by that particle. This means they have declared C02 emissivity to be 1.0, something that has been disproven repeatedly. Emissivity of C02 is actually .0024. This makes it an almost perfect reflector, not a perfect absorber or emitter as a true black body is. It's as if IPCC treats carbon dioxide as pure carbon soot, not the oxidized form we know as C02.
9. Under the Ramen Effect scenario -after a molecule / photon collision occurs three things happen:
1. C02 absorbs .2% of the energy being carried by the photon if its moving at one of the three frequencies C02 responds to. It briefly holds this energy in one of various possible microstates.
2. The original photon wave bounces off the molecule and travels away from it at a slightly lower energy state and therefore at a different frequency (14.77 um becomes 14.8 um).
3. Carbon dioxide is left behind in an altered microstate with a slightly higher energy due to vibration than its normal base level. If internal energy increases further due to more collisions the molecule shifts to new more energetic vibration based microstates until something happens to remove that excess internal energy (radiation or molecular collisions).
4. Carbon dioxide can occupy a variety of molecular cofigurations depending on the amount of energy they manage to extract from an emw wave contacting the molecule. These all represent variations levels of energy and it is express through motion - a vibration of the molecule that requires higher energy to maintain than its normal base state. It is NOT due to an electron oribital shift. This is a function of very high energy collisions, much higher than those found in the carbon dioxides fingerprint radiation requirements.
10. Consequences of this partial absorption of the Earth sourced photon / wave include:
1. C02 likely won't re-emit any IR at all due to it extremely low energy state (it must make contact with 20554 incoming photons to become energized enough to emit one fully energized IR photon). Even if it does emit any energy as a photon it will be at a much lower energy level and move at a different wavelength of 3.75 meters - a radio signal, not an infrared signal. This heats or reheats nothing at all.
2. The original deflected IR wave (now at 14.8 um) cannot be absorbed at all by another C02 molecule because it is the wrong wavelength to initiate this. It simply flies out to space.
11. A more likely scenario - is that the C02 molecule will collide with some of the 2600 nitrogen and air molecules that surround it and physically transfer its minor gain in photon energy to them. The transferred energy will be held in the form of kinetic energy (heat). No re - radiation from these molecules of any significance if indeed any at all until they have moved high into the atmosphere due to the natural effect of hot air rising.
THE MATHEMATICS SUPPORTING THE CONCEPT OF RAMAN ABSORPTION BY C02
For 14.77 um Earth sourced Infra Red Radiation:
1. Energy delivered to C02 in a 14.77 um IR Earth wave: 1.3450 X 10 ^-20 Joules
2. Energy removed from one 14.77 um IR wave by C02: .0027 X 10 ^-20 Joules
3. Energy left in Earth wave dispersed as 14.8 um IR wave: 1.3423 X 10 ^-20 Joules
4. Energy emitted as 3.75 m radio by one C02 molecule: .0000054 X 10 ^-20 Joules
5. Energy required to actually shift an electron higher: 54.468 X 10 ^-20 Joules
6. # waves required to supply this much energy: (#5) / (#2) = 20554 waves @ 14.77 um
7. % energy absorbed from one 14.77 um IR wave: (#2) / (#1) *100 = .2 %
8. % of C02 (#2) energy emitted as 3.75 m radio wave: (#4) / (#2) *100 = .2 %
Numbers show massive losses of energy in each step of every kind of transfer, resulting in irradiation of electromagnetic radiation far away from the original IR waves sent up from the Earth. Where are these masses of heat waves being sent back to the Earth? Depletion and alteration eliminates them and takes away any ability to "get back home" and reheat the source.
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F. A NON SCIENTIFIC INTERPRETATION OF THESE PAPERS.
The Earth loses heat by radiating out infrared (IR) heat waves to space. The wavelength of the IR waves sent out by Earth is the range 0 to 25 microns. Carbon Dioxide is capable of absorbing IR waves but only if they are 2.3 um, 4.6 um or 14.66 um. - no others. Since only 8% of the outgoing heat waves are at these wavelengths, it follows that Carbon Dioxide can only absorb 8% of the total Infrared radiation sent out by the Earth AT BEST.
This assumes 100% efficiency of absorbing the IR waves at these three wavelengths. But Carbon Dioxide is not 100% efficient. It has been shown to be only .2% efficient in absorbing IR in its acceptable wavelengths. That's not much when considering the volume of heat waves coming out from Earth.
IMPORTANT - A major erroneous assumption by IPCC models is that carbon dioxide does absorb 100% of the IR waves it encounters (not .2% as has actually been measured). This makes their models work but it is simply wrong and using it at 100% efficiency is a LIE.
What is the mechanism for heat transfers? A C02 molecule is struck by a (compatible) Infrared heat wave emitted from the Earth but it only absorbs .2% of the total energy contained by that wave. Nevertheless, because the molecule has absorbed some energy it is slightly warmer than before (ie. energized). The dispersed IR wave, being slightly colder due to its interaction with this C02 molecule changes its wavelength and cannot be absorbed by any more C02 molecules as it dissipates out to space.
This molecule is only warm. How can it become hot? Since C02 can only absorb .2% of the heat available in any earth sent IR wave it would have to collide with 20554 waves in order to become as hot as the waves themselves. This is very unlikely and can be ignored as insignificant.
Global warming theory says that C02 re-radiates its gained energy out with roughly half of it being directed back to the Earth. In this way it "reflects" energy back down and prevents it from getting up to space. Since energy is actually heat and since the Earth is getting more heat back than it sends out, the theory says the Earth will heat up. This is simply not true.
The C02 molecule seldom if ever radiates out a heat wave that is even equal to the heat wave it originally received from the Earth. In order to send heat back to Earth the molecule must be hotter than Earth. C02 is colder than Earth and the law of thermodynamics says that a cold object cannot radiate heat into a hotter object. The direction is always from a hot object to a cold object. So radiation back to Earth would violate that law and frankly it does not happen.
The molecule simply never gets hot enough to send out an IR wave that is hot enough to radiate back down and be absorbed by the Earth. In the description above, where it only absorbs .2% of one wave hitting it, it will actually re-radiate that heat at wavelengths that are not even considered to be infrared at all. Indeed they are in the radio wave zone which don't heat anything.
So, to recap - A carbon dioxide molecule cannot absorb enough infrared radiation to put itself into a "hot" state. Instead it may become "warm" by absorbing some of the radiation and it may cool itself down by radiating out a non heat wave way far out in the radio wave spectrum. Net effect is C02 doesn't absorb much heat sent to it from Earth and it doesn't return any heat to the Earth. Theory is not valid.
Further reducing the odds of a C02 molecule re-radiating at all is the fact that it is constantly in contact with 2600 air molecules / C02 molecule and energy shifts are more likely to occur by collisions that transfer the heat from the warm C02 molecule to the air (nitrogen and oxygen) molecules. This is called kinetic transfer.
Either way, the concept of full absorption of energy from one IR wave and full transmission of a new IR wave by the C02 molecule is proven to be impossible. If no strong re-radiation occurs then the odds of re-heating the Earth are also miniscule. C02 may briefly interfere with Earth sourced IR outgoing radiation but there is no heat retention and no heat return mechanism happening. In spit of this brief period of interference with outgoing IR heat waves it will eventually make it out to space and be lost.
The Earth will be cooled by morning and be ready for another day of warming up due to the Sun. The end.
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G. AN EVEN SHORTER, SHORTER SUMMARY.
1. One contact with a C02 molecule by an Earth sourced IR wave (2.3, 4.6, 14.77 um) reduces its energy, changes its wavelength and sends it out to space with no more "hits".
2. C02 doesn't absorb enough energy on one hit by an IR photon wave to re-radiate any IR at all.
3. C02 more likely loses its miniscule added energy by immediately emitting a non IR wave that dissipates or by transferring its energy to air molecules kinetically through molecular collisions.
4. No IR waves return to Earth and therefore nothing reheats Earth and global warming does not occur.
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H. CONCLUSION - IMPLICATIONS TO GREENHOUSE GAS POLITICS.
The Greenhouse Theory argument should have ended the minute the emissivity of carbon dioxide was determined. It indicates clearly that C02's ability to absorb and transmit infrared heat waves is so negligible that it can be considered to be a big zero.
This apparently did not suit the IPCC agenda and in their calculations emissivity for carbon dioxide was set at 1.0 instead of the actual number of .0024. Earth was treated the same way, given a value for a "perfect black body" absorber / emitter of 1.0 instead of a lower number related to its true status as a "gray body". This is a serious alteration of reality and really relegates the Greenhouse Theory into the trash can. You simply cannot arbitrarily change the status of an object or molecule when phenomena to which they attach such importance It is an inexcusable breach of protocol.
By ignoring the measured inability of carbon dioxide to capture or transmit IR and considering it a black body instead, a whole scenario was supported in which the gas has become some kind of thermal blanket surrounding the Earth, capturing heat waves thrown off from the surface an sending them back to their source. It is bad enough that the science was bastardized by this action but even worse that it has become the rallying cry for special interest groups, politicians and anxious sixteen year olds for the whole world to take action and reverse hundreds of years of progress regarding our living standards. We are in a time of international hysteria stirred up by our mindless approval of this ridiculous scientific lie and it can only lead us to future harm by preventing our ability to deal with the real issues caused by our dramatic increase in population over the past few decades.
Please note: these images and the discussions surrounding them are easily found on Google. I'm not even going to attempt to make a bibliography because this isn't a scientific paper, it's an opinion piece. If you doubt me go search them out. The exercise is quite revealing.