League Circles wrote:Dr Spaceman wrote:Alright, but if this were true: the Earth's temperature would have been increasing at a linear rate since its creation. Data shows this is obviously not the case.
A little more wordily: the inputs and outputs of heat to the earth can be assumed to be in equilibrium. If the sun were heating up, the Earth would be heating up at a supremely faster rate than it is now. If it were getting colder, our temp would be declining at a again faster rate. The Universe temperature is marginally above 0, on average, and neither the sun or Earth are ever making a dent in that.
So we're basically left wth the Earth: what's changing? It can't be more heat input, and it can't be the universe itself getting warmer, so it's got to be the Earth losing less heat. In other words, it's becoming more insulated. The data doesn't agree with really any thermodynamic explanation because the rate of change isn't linear. Something artificial is getting in the way.
Why would the bolded parts necessarily be true at all? I don't believe a universal assumption of equilibrium is at all consistent with what we can surmise about the universe, though I may be wrong. I'm definitely open to ideas.
Why can't the universe be getting warmer? Or colder? I have instincts and thoughts as to the answers to these questions but no confident position.
Nonetheless, I assume, for lack of better info, neutral input and output of heat exchange from earth. In which case, yes we are unavoidably causing global warming (as is every natural process on earth). All we can do is affect the rate of warming. And I support limiting that rate through worldwide policy and national policy.
Not sure if you saw my last reply, but I'll try to surmise it very briefly:
Temperature is a measure of molecular motion per unit space. Every particle in the universe started in a little jumble that had so much energy it exploded and started expanding and never stopped. Thus, with a fixed amount of energy (this is proven, in fact, by thermodynamics) the amount of motion possible in an ever-expanding area is astronomically tiny.
Further, the "temperature" of outer space HAS TO be zero (as in, would break the laws of physics were it not) because we've measured close to absolute zero. If the universe itself were not that cold, it WOULD NOT be possible for that level of cold to exist elsewhere.
Further, look what happens when you move away from the sun. Each successive planet gets colder. This would not happen if the universe weren't substantially colder than its inhabitants.
Finally, why isn't the universe getting hotter? It is, but by the same degree as if you lit a match and dropped it in the Atlantic Ocean and tried to measure it (and actually, the real effect is hundreds of thousands of times smaller than this.)