[Coral-List] Pseudoscience
Eugene Shinn
eshinn at marine.usf.edu
Mon Nov 5 10:31:44 EST 2012
Dear Douglas, There may be a problem with item 3 of your posting, You
said, "CO2 absorbs infrared radiation (a physical fact not in
dispute), the more of it is in the atmosphere, the more it heats the
earth." That statement wrong. The whole business of CO2 being a
greenhouse gas started with Arrhenius 1896, (Arrhenius, Svente,
1896, On the Influence of Carbonic Acid upon the Temperature of the
Ground: The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophic Magazine and
Journal of Science, fifth series, p. 267.)
Arrhenius started this debate with his original work on atmospheric
gases, but he placed a constraint upon the contention that increasing
CO2 concentration causes greatly increased temperature:
"Thus if the quantity of carbonic acid increases in geometric
progression, the augmentation of the temperature will increase nearly
in arithmetic progression." (p. 267)
This statement simply argues that if "carbonic acid" levels were to
double from today's value, the temperature change would be 0.64 C in
a dry atmosphere, and 0.22 C in the real, wet, atmosphere. Thus,
there would be no significant effect of doubling CO2 on temperature
from the present concentration of nearly 400 ppm.
To recap, if the present concentration of CO2 was only 100 ppm, the
effect of doubling would be significant, but at 400 ppm, the effect,
logarithmically declining, is insignificant.
Again I am just the messenger. This information was sent to me last
week. If you disagree take it up with Arrhenius. Gene
--
No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science Room 221A
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158----------------------------------
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