GLOBAL WARMING IS A MYTH (Cntd.)

ROLE OF HYDROLOGY AND GRAVITY

Pure water doesn’t conduct electricity. Normal water too is a poor conductor of heat. Exchange of heat takes place almost entirely by convection. Molecules carrying heat travel within the system and spread heat uniformly.

Ice and snow being solid, molecules have no freedom of movement. Unlike a rod of iron, heat is not passed on from one end to the other if the rod is made of ice. This is the reason why the igloo (hutment made of ice blocks) retains warmth inside it, even when the temperature outside falls much below the freezing point. A human being may remain alive for some days, if he sleeps in the arctic region. The snow deposited on his body forms a blanket which will not allow the heat of the body to escape outside and also protects from the cold wind blowing from the Poles. Such cases have been reported. At the same time beggars sleeping outside in the cold season in north India die as reported in newspapers, as they lose their body heat easily in the absence of warm cloths.

 This unique quality of frozen water plays a very important role in preventing heat of the earth from escaping into outer space by radiation. The Polar regions, and a considerable part of temperate regions in winter, remain covered with ice and snow. This is true of the mountainous regions and the plateaus of higher altitude also. In the seas the thermal insulation provided by the snow cover allows life to flourish throughout the year but prevents escape of heat and makes considerable contribution to global warming.

 There is continuous evaporation of water from the seas (not covered by ice) and land. Each molecule of vapor carries considerable quantity of latent heat as additional calorie. When they rise in altitude, the molecules form clouds and then descend towards the earth as rain, snow, dew and mist. This circulation of water results in cyclic movement of heat. Only the latent heat released at the time of formation of clouds results in escape of heat by radiation. In areas where humidity is minimum the heat lost by radiation will be considerable. Ironically deserts help to ‘fight Global Warming’ and greenery works in the reverse direction!

 If the earth were devoid of water, transfer of heat from the earth by radiation to outer space would have been easy and enormous in quantity as in the case of  the Moon.

 GRAVITY

What is the source of geo-thermal energy?

 A stack of lignite will catch fire if left in the open. Obviously this is because of the pressure developed inside, raising the temperature to ignition point of lignite which is comparatively low. Such rise in temperature takes place inside a stack of coal, iron ore, sand etc also. The pressure is caused by gravity of the earth which continuously pulls the stack down and the surface of the earth opposing this force, causing pressure. Therefore we may say that gravity generates heat. A hill is also a stack of great dimension. As the crust of the earth is not falling down due to gravity; it is obviously subjected to pressure caused by opposing forces of gravity and forces supporting the crust to remain in position. When the pressure at a point, say 10km inside the earth, is multiplied by the area of the globe at this point, we will get a mind boggling figure of the thrust, capable of generating heat, comparable to that produced by thousands of hydrogen bombs.

 Well, this may be the source of geo thermal energy and not radiation as maintained by geologists. The above theory is borne out by the fact that as we go deeper into the earth the temperature rises. In depressions like the Grand Canyon in America and the Dead Sea it is very hot.

 “Hence, omitting all reference to the active volcanoes, and to thermal springs at all temperatures below that of boiling water, found in all parts of the world, it is well-known fact, that in descending into deep mines the temperature is greatly above that of the mean of the exterior air, and increases progressively with the depth. This was first remarked by Gensanne, about the year 1740, in the lead mines of Giromagny, near Beport. Saussure afterwards observed the same fact in the salt mines at Bex, in Switzerland; but the attention of naturalists was not generally directed to the temperature of the lower strata, till Humboldt has executed an extensive and interesting series of experiments in the mines of Freyburg, in 1791. The best set of observations we possess on the temperature of deep places, is that which has been uninterruptedly continued for more than half a century in the caves under the observatory of Paris. In 1783 the Count de Cassini, in concert with Lavoisier, placed a very delicate thermometer in one of these excavations for the purpose of observing the curious phenomenon of an invariable temperature, which had been noticed to exist in the same place, by the first Cassini, in 1671, and by La Hire, in 1730. The thermometer is placed at the depth of rather more than thirty yards under the surface, in a bed of fine sand, and has indicated no change of temperature, or at least its oscillations have not exceeded the 1/33 of centesimal degree. The constant temperature exceeds at that depth, by 2.16 degree Fahrenheit’s scale, the mean tempreture at the surface: and supposing a uniform increase at the same rate, we would arrive at the temperature of boiling water at the depth of 2542 yards under the city of Paris. We may quote a few other results of observation. In the coal mines of the north of England the temperature is 70° at the depth of 800 or 900 feet, when the air at the surface is only 48° or 49°; and in the mines of Valenciana in Mexico, it is 92° when the surface-air is at 60°. The following are additional examples:-. In a copper mine at Dolcoath, in Cornwall, a thermometer was kept eighteen months buried in the rock to the depth of a yard. The depth of the mine was 1377 feet. The temperature indicated was 75.5°, while that of the country is 50°; and consequently the increase of heat there is at the rate of 1° for every 54 feet.

 At Giromagny, in the Vosges, the annual temperature at the surface is 49°; at 330 feet depth it is 53.6°; at 1008 feet, 65.8°; at 1416 feet 74.6°. in four of the deepest mines of Saxony the annual tempreture at the surface is 46.4degree at from 510 to 600 feet depth it is 54.5 degree; at 840 feet, 58 degree; at 1080 feet, 62.6°.

 In the deepest British coal mine, that of Killingworth, the annual temperature at the surface is 48°; at 900 feet depth it is 70°; at 1200 feet, 77°. A similar gradation is found in many of the deeper mines at home and abroad.

 There is thus in the Vosges an increase of temperature in descent below the surface amounting to about 1° in every 60 feet; in Saxony 1° in every 66 feet; and in Britain 1 degreein every 45 feet. After the ratio observed in the Vosges, the tempreture of the hot springs at Bath, 113°, will be found at three-quarters of a mile in the interior of the earth, and that of boiling water at a depth of nearly two miles. “The facts strongly support three conclusions:- First, that the heat of an interior shell of the earth is greater than the superficial shell. Second, that this heat augments progressively as we descend towards this region, in a ratio bearing some relations to the depth. Third, that, even at moderate depth, this heat is greater than the mean heat of the globe ought to be, if entirely derived from the sun. The heat of such an interior mass must be constantly diffusing itself towards the surface; and at the surface it may be kept down, so as to affect the temperature derived from the solar action very feebly, by the greater or less rapidity of its dissipation. But as it is very improbable that it should be diffused with perfect equality round the whole exterior shell of the globe, it may be the true source of some of those anomalies of climate, such as the discrepancy in the annual heat under the same parallel, which cannot be easily referred to other known causes”. If the heat of the globe were entirely derived from the sun, Pekin, at an inconsiderable elevation above the sea, ought to have the same mean annual temperature as Naples, being under the same parallel of latitude; but instead of that being the case, the temperature falls short of that at Naples by nearly 9°. Other causes may contribute to produce this discrepancy; yet it is not unreasonable to suppose that the mean heat at Naples is raised by its proximity to a focus of internal heat which smokes and flashes through the chimney of Vesuvius”.

 It is amazing that pioneers like Humboldt, Lavoisier etc had done path breaking observations regarding geo thermal energy and deserve all praise. Had this line of research continued, the conclusions now reached by me would have automatically been revealed much earlier. That the scientists, especially geologists, have not cared to  study physical geography is a big loss. I have only filled up the spaces left void by the pioneers.

 To conclude: global warming is caused by the earth itself and cooling is retarded by water – our father and mother. Shall we blame our parents or thank them for giving precious life enabling us a few year’s visit to this wonderful earth to enjoy it’s beauty and sublimity?