Wednesday, May 9, 2018

A Primer on the Physics of Heat Flow, and Why There is No Global Warming - Part 2

It's a funny thing that the Carbon Hypothesis went against every law of physics, and Principles of Geology (Uniformity), but was successfully argued by the talented English Majors.  Because no physics supported the requirement that the atmosphere act as glass (greenhouse gases) they invoked magic (unknown interactions with water vapour).  Everybody accepted this, and Harry Potter is the reason.

The main physics that was so rudely ignored is Heat Flow and Heat Transfer.  On a molecular scale, this is just billiard balls bashing into each other.  Heat or temperature is defined as the degree to which the molecule is vibrating.  Heat energy is the ability for that heat to do work, such as the mercury rising when you stick in a thermometer, or moving electrons with a digital thermometer.

Equating heat and heat energy is the biggest physics sin of the English Majors.  A litre of water contains 4,000 times more heat energy than a litre of dry air, at the same temperature.  Moist air contains at least 10 times more heat energy than dry.  In practical terms, the oceans contain many factors of 10 (orders of magnitude) more heat energy than the atmosphere.  With my greenhouse in the back, the temperature stability comes from the thermal mass (moist soil) underneath it, and not the air inside.

-- to be continued


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