A Little Science Lesson

Two years ago, I promised to refrain from talking about the science of climate change because statistics tell us people form opinions based on political affiliations and not science. I think people are more curious than given credit for so I am breaking my promise.

Since greenhouse gasses are causing rapid climate change it seems well worth the effort to explain the science.

Let’s start by grabbing an empty box.  Is it really empty?  No, it has air in it.  If you analyzed the air in your “empty” box it would be 99% Nitrogen and Oxygen. Less than 1% is greenhouse gases (GHGs). GHGs include water vapor, methane, carbon dioxide, and a few other trace GHGs.

Take a reflective substance like a mirror, put it in the bottom of the box and set the box outside in the sun. This would be a pretty good simulation of snow or ice reflection. The sunlight (light energy) passes through the air into the box hits the mirror and reflects back through the air heading for outer space. Our atmospheric gasses are invisible to sunlight. Sunlight passes right through them.

Take the mirror out and put black rocks in and let the sunlight hit the rocks. After awhile feel how warm the rocks are. Each substance either reflects light or absorbs it. The color black absorbs more, and lighter colors less. What our black rocks are doing is absorbing the sunlight and converting it to Infrared heat, (IR).

The black rocks in our box absorb the sunlight and transform the sun energy to invisible infrared energy. We get a demonstration of the power of this heat transformation whenever we drive on a partial snow-covered highway on a sunny winter day. The sun has little effect on the snow until the sun hits a little patch of black asphalt. Then the sunlight hitting the black asphalt changes to heat and the snow quickly melts.

So, where does all the Infrared energy from our black rocks in the box go? It too heads towards outer space. It passes unimpeded right by the Oxygen and Nitrogen atoms. It would escape lickety-split to space like sunlight but the GHGs  say, “Whoa, wait a minute”. 

Scientists tell us the molecular bonds between the atoms are the culprits. The easiest and most plentiful GHG to examine is carbon dioxide, (CO2). To give yourself a visual demo of how the bond works stretch your arms out. Your hands represent oxygen atoms, your chest a carbon atom. You are pretending to be a carbon dioxide molecule and your arms are the bond.

 Sunlight has no effect on the bond. Unlike sunlight, IR is readily absorbed and the bond moves. The IR heat is absorbed in your arms. By swinging the oxygen atoms (your hands) in gyrations you simulate the heat activated bond which scientists tell us is what happens. Energy is stored as motion.

When the infrared heat source stops, in this case our black rocks cool, the CO2 and any other GHG molecules then emit heat slowly cooling and the bond motion slows and eventually stops. You would demonstrate this by slowing your arm swings.

As the IR heat escapes the cooling CO2 molecule there is the chance it will encounter another CO2 or GHG molecule and the process starts again. If we change the mixture of gasses in the box by adding more GHGs the process of absorbing heat and then re-radiating heat takes longer and longer, and the heat trapped in the box goes higher and higher.

NASA and NOAA keep close track of the GHGs we are adding to the atmosphere. “According to NOAA's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index the combined heating influence of all major greenhouse gases has increased by 43% relative to 1990.” When NASA scientists compare the rate of CO2 accumulation today by analyzing ice cores, sea sediments, and fossil records the rate of accumulation is shocking: “The annual rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 60 years is about 100 times faster than previous natural increases, such as those that occurred at the end of the last ice age 11,000-17,000 years ago. “

A word of caution here. Some people will tell you the Stratosphere is cooling and because of this global warming is a myth.  However we live in the Troposphere which varies in thickness from 4 miles to 12 miles thick and it is warming. The next layer is the Stratosphere and it is cooling. Why?

As Yoopers we can figure this out. It is like our snow-covered roofs. We can tell if a roof is warm because the snow melts and it accumulates icicles. This is a sure sign of poor insulation. If we have enough insulation the roof is cold, covered with snow, with only a few hanging icicles.

By adding GHG insulation to our troposphere we cool the roof, our stratosphere.  Our satellites pick that up. Proof, again, we are altering mother earth’s energy balance.

Next week we will talk more about how science has proven our use of fossil fuels is far and away the primary reason our climate is rapidly changing.

*NASA link:  https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide 

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