Proof About Carbon Dioxide

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Proof About Carbon Dioxide

by Richard
(United States)

I note that you make the following statement as a statement of fact. Where is your proof for this statement. "For every extra molecule of CO2 in the atmosphere, additional heat is reflected down back towards the Earth. This means that some heat that would otherwise have been lost from the atmosphere is trapped. Given large enough quantities of CO2 in the atmosphere the amount of trapped heat will cause a rise in the temperature of some parts of the atmosphere."

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Proof About Carbon Dioxide

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Mar 22, 2010
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light not heat
by: Anonymous

Energy enters the atmosphere mostly as light, not heat, so it passes through the CO2 blanket to reach the earth's surface. Heat cannot pass through a vacuum.

Mar 18, 2010
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CO2 and the environment
by: David

I have two comments on the CO2 issue. One, if CO2 can block heat from radiating into space, you also have to consider that there would be the opposite effect of blocking part of the suns energy and directing it back into space. This was part of the basis for the environmentalists of the 60's and 70's forecasting strong and devastating global cooling. The second point is that cores taken from around the world are now showing in past warming periods, the heating was there before the concentration of CO2 increased. This was probably caused by the heating, which I believe is strongly related to sunspot activity, causing enough increase in ocean temperatures to allow the CO2 from the ocean to be released into the atomosphere. It may well be that the forecasters of the 60's and 70's were more correct than the current ones.

Aug 27, 2009
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Reagrding previous...
by: Roger (admin)

In regard to the previous comments...

I have no proof myself that increased CO2 levels result in increased atmospheric heat trapping aside from referring again to the chemical properties of the molecule.

I suspect that climate modelers use this property of CO2 to absorb and release heat in their modeling, but I am not certain. It does make sense though that if one molecule has this effect, lots of molecules will have the same effect only larger.

Regarding geothermal energy, I believe it is a valid renewable energy although it does run the same risk as fossil fuels, being a net increase in the amount of energy in the atmosphere. The advantage of solar and wind over geothermal is that they harness energy that is already in the atmosphere, rather than adding energy or extra gases to that atmosphere.

Aug 27, 2009
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Why not embrace change and profit?
by: Anonymous

Why not harness the extra heat by employing the use of thermoelectric generators and creating an awesome source of electricity?

Aug 27, 2009
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The question is still unanswered...
by: Richard

My question remains. Let me state it in a different way. What proof can you offer that a concentration of 500 PPM of CO2 in the atmosphere would cause global temperatures to rise when compared to a concentration of 250 PPM of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Aug 27, 2009
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chemical properties of CO2
by: Roger (admin)

I base this on the chemical properties of CO2 one of which is to absorb and radiate infra red energy. This energy comes from the surface and prior to absorption is heading out into space. The CO2 molecule emits this energy in all directions, with the overall result being that some of the energy that would otherwise have gone into space gets re-emitted back to the ground.

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Proof About Carbon Dioxide

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Proof About Carbon Dioxide