Michael Nicolos
12/15/13
Science
Global Warming
On August 31st, 2006, a documentary-type style film called “An Inconvenient Truth” made its debut1 . This movie was directed by Davis Guggenheim and starred politician Al Gore. Together, these two men created an entertaining film that pursed and developed the concept of Global Warming. Furthermore, it is stated that the earths rise in temperature over the last few decades is a direct result of human interaction. Al Gore backed up this claim by presenting many graphs and figures that projected the earth to be on a path of destruction should we continue along the same path. The concept of the greenhouse effect is fundamental to any argument rooted in Global Warming. The greenhouse effect is a reference to the earths atmosphere trapping heat that would otherwise dissipate into space2. As the sun continues nuclear fusion, the light ejected is hurled at earth in relative short wave-lengths. These light-waves penetrate through the atmosphere (while most radiation ejected by the sun is diverted because of the atmosphere) and are absorbed by the earth and it's oceans in the form of heat. That heat is then displaced by the earth in longer wave-lengths and radiated through the atmosphere safely diffusing into space. The greenhouse effect occurs when certain gasses in the atmosphere, known as greenhouse gasses, thicken and deny heat from diffusing into space, therefore warming the earth. These gases, known as greenhouse gasses, are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone3. There are many disagreements on what role the greenhouse effect has on the earths cycle, if any at all. One argument is that many graphs and figures, such as the ones presented in “An Inconvenient Truth,” assume that the earths hydrosphere and lithosphere dissipate heat at a constant rate, which is not accurate. The more heat that the earth absorbs, the more is radiated4. In layman’s terms, we have all heard the greenhouse effect analogy of a car in a parking lot absorbing heat by the sun that gets trapped by the roof, therefore heating the car to a temperature that can be greater than the average temperature outside the car. However, few take it a step further and ask what would happen should the car in the parking lot continue to absorb heat. The fact is that the more heat that gets absorbed by the car, the more surface area is affected, and when more surface area is heated, there is more surface area to displace the heat. Therefore, eventually the car will reach a point in which the heat being displaced is equal to the heat being absorbed. That is the reason our cars don't get up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. The same logic applies to the earth. As more heat would be absorbed by the earth, the more surface area there is for the heat to either cool down or be radiated back into space. Indeed the greenhouse gasses may lower the amount of heat radiated back from one area, but with the heat dispersing throughout the globe, the amount of radiated heat retains its volume. Another key aspect of the greenhouse gas effect is the man made emissions of the Carbon Dioxide adding to the atmosphere5. In theory, it is the direct result of these emissions that are causing the earth to warm up (which its contested by a portion of the scientific community in it's own regard). Al Gore makes the point that there is a direct correlation between the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the air and the temperature of the earth. Furthermore, Gore states that the more Carbon Dioxide in the air, the warmer the planet gets which is bad for the earth as an inhabitable ecosystem. Although many scientists conclude that Carbon Dioxide does not affect the earth in this manner, most agree that there is a correlation between Carbon Dioxide and the earths temperature. However, these correlations is formed in such a way that Carbon Dioxide is the product of a warm planet, not the cause of one. In a study on the levels of Carbon Dioxide in regards to temperature over the past 650,000 years, it was found that the increase in Carbon Dioxide were roughly 200 years subsequent to the increase in temperature, proving that the earths temperature is independent of the levels of Carbon Dioxide.