Catechism for Sceptics
There are four key points that together invalidate any argument that changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide can alter the climate:
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All heat has to be generated. (This is surely self-evident.)
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All heat by itself always flows from hot to cold and never vice-versa (The irrefutable 2nd law of thermodynamics.)
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It is impossible to trap heat. (High temperatures can be generated in an oven or in a greenhouse, but only remain so long as heat is being generated.)
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It therefore follows that all talk of ‘Man-made Global Warming’ has no basis in reality. For no gases generate heat, nor can they trap heat, least of all Carbon Dioxide.
The cornerstone of climate alarmism is that ‘Greenhouse Gases,’ in particular Carbon Dioxide, are susceptible to the infrared radiation that is emitted from the Earth and Oceans. I quote here from an email from my colleague Max Potter, an ardent warmist.
This light (from the sun) is mainly absorbed by land, sea etc and converted to heat. When the energy is reradiated it is emitted as much lower frequency infrared (below or lower frequency than red). It is this infrared radiation that is absorbed by the “greenhouse gases” (including water vapour), which warm the atmosphere.
That is correct. In layman’s language that means that the molecules of CO2 are warmed by this infrared. The Warmists then argue that there has been an increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere caused by the burning of hydrocarbons. That is also correct. In percentage terms that can be construed as a big increase, but in fact it only seems big because the amount is still only a trace – less than 0.04{154653b9ea5f83bbbf00f55de12e21cba2da5b4b158a426ee0e27ae0c1b44117} of the gases in the atmosphere.
However they argue further as follows – I quote again from this email from a colleague – that Carbon Dioxide traps heat. Here is how my colleague argues:
You ask: “If a Carbon Dioxide molecule traps heat, how long is that heat trapped? Permanently? If not permanently, then how long?”Heat (vibrational energy) is continually being exchanged between molecules of gas as they collide. If there are more CO2 molecules they will absorb more infrared radiation and share it with all the other molecules, whether they are CO2, O2 or N2 thus warming the atmosphere,
i.e. “trapping heat”.
All the best, Max Potter
Can you see the fallacy in his argument? Or rather can you see how he has in fact conceded that there is no such thing as trapped heat? The warm molecules instantly pass their warmth to cooler molecules, thus vindicating the 2nd law of thermodynamics, as heat by itself always flows from hot to cold. The fact that there may be a few more molecules makes no difference whatsoever. The heat is not trapped but is instantly passed on and on to cooler molecules.
In no way could a molecule, of equal temperature to another, affect it in any way. There would be no exchange. Likewise, if the Earth were as hot as the Sun no exchange would or could take place. Heat always flows from the hotter to the cooler. The concept of trapped heat is entirely fallacious – there is not and cannot be such a thing.
Red Herrings: – People who have never been to the Arctic, and are never likely to go there, are nevertheless fond of using the Arctic as proof of Anthropogenic Global Warming. Scare stories abound of the melting of the Polar ice cap with consequent massive flooding and climate change. In fact the Northwest Passage was first navigated by Roald Amundsen in 1903-1906. It is not unusual for the ice to melt in the summer months and reform in the winters.
For some people it would be a great blessing if there were a permanently opened passage for ship and trade.
But, what causes the ice packs to melt when they do so in the summer seasons? It is a common misconception that the ice melts because of the warmer atmosphere. But since the temperature rarely arrives at 5 degrees Celsius this is insufficient to melt pack ice. There is only one thing that can cause the ice to melt and that is warm ocean currents. As the waters in the Tropics are warmed so also are warm ocean currents moved both south and north. That is leaving aside the numerous hot water vents with which the ocean abounds.
Only warm water could possibly cause the ice pack to melt. And that depends on our journey round the sun and has nothing whatsoever to do with a trace gas in the atmosphere.
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