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Not THAT ludicrous, just more extreme. Joel Send a noteboard - 19/11/2010 05:29:23 PM
Sometimes the similarities between the physical composition of Earth and Venus, combined with the radically different atmospheric CO2 and SO2 concentrations, make me think our sisters only purpose is to provide a cautionary tale of how the mighty can fall.


Venus is hot from greenhouse effects, but it gets twice the sunlight and it's 'daytime' last a couple of months, it has no magnetic field of note either. Earth couldn't get that hot even if our entire atmosphere was CO2, because we get way less light and our day is 24 - not 2400 - hours long. Nor could it happen, by best estimates, there is literally not enough coal and oil in the world to do such a thing, and at the increased temperature and rainfall such initial warming would bring, plant life would be able to chew up the increased CO2 into plant matter at a far faster rate. The joke on biofuels, that I always like, is that they will eventually become cost effective as the increase in CO2 will let us grow more of it on the same amount of land till eventually that increase growth curve intersects with the rarity increase from fossil fuels.

So it's daytime is shorter; does that mean the seas of lead freeze on the night side? I'm only a layman, but it seems like the amount of heat retained and reflected should be about the same whether the half of the surface getting sunlight is the same or varies. Naturally differences between various places on the planet should vary a lot more, but if there's a big difference between the total heat retained by a spinning versus motionless planet I'm curious to know why.

Additional questions:

Is a magnetic field thought to play a role in the greenhouse effect, or did you just mention it to give an example of a difference between Earth and her sister planet?

Twice as much light, really? I didn't think they were THAT much closer to the sun.

I'm not saying we're identical though, just that Venus provides us an excellent example of how a runaway greenhouse effect really can have dire consequences, despite the claims of those who insist it doesn't matter even if it IS happening here. Too much of that, hell, too much of US policy in general these days, strike me as a rationalized excuse to do nothing, with the incidental effect that those who materially benefit from doing nothing continue doing so. And accuse reputable scientists of bias and greed.
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So, I think I found a way to actually prove if Global Warming is happening. - 19/11/2010 01:22:49 AM 603 Views
The idea that CO2 in the atmosphere holds in heat is not in dispute - 19/11/2010 02:13:02 AM 466 Views
One need look no further than Venus. - 19/11/2010 03:22:50 PM 421 Views
To find a ludicrous parallel? - 19/11/2010 04:38:12 PM 368 Views
Not THAT ludicrous, just more extreme. - 19/11/2010 05:29:23 PM 403 Views
Re: Not THAT ludicrous, just more extreme. (edit) - 19/11/2010 07:25:21 PM 353 Views
Re: Not THAT ludicrous, just more extreme. (edit) - 22/11/2010 01:47:15 AM 1022 Views
There are limits as to how much some of this stuff can be simplified - 22/11/2010 04:27:10 AM 559 Views
With apologies for the delay. - 03/12/2010 03:54:26 AM 531 Views
I hate computers sometimes - 03/12/2010 05:10:36 PM 458 Views
Re: - 19/11/2010 02:41:29 AM 454 Views
Entirely agree - 19/11/2010 08:42:51 AM 344 Views
Wouldn't prove anything - and your experiment is very flawed - 19/11/2010 10:57:41 AM 368 Views

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