Do you accept the greenhouse effect, man-made global warming, and what is your physics education level?

Question

A few questions for everybody to answer:

1) Do you believe humans are the primary cause of the recent global warming (over the past 30 years)?

2) Do you believe the greenhouse effect is proven, or just hypothetical? I ask because some believe there is no proof of the greenhouse effect.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsiOLBjq21OXBtcHZq29C0wFxgt.;_ylv=3?qid=20080822074657AA0yECx

3) What is your level of physics education (i.e. none, high school, some college, graduate school, etc.)?

Please be honest in your answers.

Answer 1

1. Yes, I believe it's the primary cause of current warming.

2. Yes, it is proved.

3. I have a BS in electrical engineering with the following physics courses...

PHYS-310 College Physics I with Lab

This calculus-based course emphasizes fundamental

laws of mechanics – the basis of most electronic

control systems. Students use computer software

packages to simulate system performance and analyze

data acquired through lab exercises.

PHYS-320 College Physics II with Lab

This calculus-based course covers topics such as

thermodynamics, heat transfer, electromagnetic fields,

wave propagation, optics, sensors and transducers.

Students use computer software to simulate system

performance and analyze data acquired through lab

exercises.

Answer 2

Of course I do, its a topic you cannot ignore! Haven't finished high school, but I still no whats right/wrong.

Answer 3

Yes, I believe in the greenhouse effect and I have been to Alaska 3 times in the past ten years and have actually seen its effects.  The glaciers are calving like crazy and are far back from the way the were.  I got as far as astrophysics at Cal St. Fullerton.  The thing is, the Earth has never had this kind of population and the mere breaths we take leave a carbon footprint.  I just don't think that there is anything we can do about it.  I think the earth is capable of purifying itself even if it has to get rid of our species and try another one.

Answer 4

1.Humans as the primary cause of warming in the last 30 years?  

The Globe has warmed in the last 30 years, but not for the last 10 despite CO2 levels continuing to rise.  If warming were manmade and caused by manmade CO2, then global temperature would still be rising as CO2 rises. This is not happening, nor is it happening as the IPCC models predicted. Nothing I’ve seen demonstrates that human CO2 has 'caused' anything to happen. Most obviously, correlation between temperature and CO2 is simply not there. We have 30 years of good CO2 data from Mauna Loa. Take your pick of temperature sources for the last 30 years... no corellation... negative corellation for 10 years.

2.Is the greenhouse effect proven?

Yes, if anyone is in doubt on this then they need to study a little more. This is a very good primer on CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Most people with school level maths and physics should be able to follow it. http://brneurosci.org/co2.html

3.Physics education level

My Physics (and maths and chemistry) education is throughout school and throughout University (Bachelor and Masters).

EDIT. Andy. You state confidently "Global warming and greenhouse gas issues are reality" Please forward the documentation to support the Anthropogenic part of this claim. This is about the 20th time I've asked for this information. If the science is settled then you should be able to demonstrate what you claim. No-one has yet given me a fact based response to this claim.

Answer 5

1. primary but not sole cause.

2. proven

3. PhD (Physics), primary areas of expertise molecular spectroscopy, bio spectroscopy, pattern recognition, optics, neutron physics.

Answer 6

1.) Perhaps not primary cause, but at least a major contributor.

2.) Proven, of course.

3.) Graduate level physics and chemistry.

Answer 7

http://www.renewamerica.us/analyses/0503...

Answer 8

1) Yes

2) Yes, Venus

3) B.Sc. Mathematics

Answer 9

I did gas meter calibration . I am also a NASA Eng. Measure the green house gas it is just not there. The plants has taken care of the CO2 just like GOD intended.

Methane has disappeared ,and if it is not there there is no Global Warming.  

Answer 10

1) Yes

2) Not 100% proven (nothing ever is), but proven by all normal scientific standards

3) Several physics classes in colleges, masters degree in engineering

btw I think chemistry education is much more important than physics education in this respect

Answer 11

You need to study and ask: What is your Chemistry education level?

Knowledge of the difference between Physics and Chemistry in the matters key to Global Warming lead to increased level of understanding of unsteady chemical reactions and the catalytic impact in them. Some reactions are strongly affected by the material of their container, to the extent that they may, in some cases, determine whether the reaction occurs.

Some constants in chemical reaction rate equations are computed from molecular models because they cannot be measured. Does this alter your confidence in the predictions on Global Warming?

Finally, why not ask about chemical reactions that led to the Ozone Hole and the theoretical analysis that led to the ban on Freon and the reduction of the Ozone Hole? You think there is a relation between the Ozone Hole analysis and the Global Warming analysis?

The study of the Ozone Hole technical history is the ideal introduction to the science of Global Warming. Give it a try.

For Global Warming there is no Magic Bullet, like Freon was for the Ozone Hole, unfortunately.

Studied Quantum Mechanics in Post Grad, majored in Combustion.

Answer 12

1.) Yes*

2.) Proven**

3.) So far, undergrad college physics

*But my opinion is not superior to a climatologist's.

**Nothing can really be "proven" in science (scientific method). However, there is enough data supporting it, and none disproving it.  

Answer 13

1) Yes, I think that humans are the primary cause of the recent warming.

2) The greenhouse effect is a scientific theory.  Nothing is ever proven completely in science (nothing is ever 100% certain), but as of right now, it looks like the greenhouse effect is closer to certain than most people (at least on here) believe.

3) Truthfully, I have never taken a physics class.  I am a high school senior and it just hasn't fit in my schedule (I was going to take it this year, but honors physics is during another class that I have to take).  But last year I did take AP environmental science and I got a 5 on the test.  I'm considering majoring in environmental studies in college, so I'm sure I'll have to take some sort of physics class along the way.

Answer 14

There is a greenhouse effect; however CO2 has not driven climates in the past and there is no reason to believe it is driving them now. There is no period of time (hundreds of years) when climates didn't fluctuate.  These fluctuations were not caused by CO2.  Implying that just because CO2 is a greenhouse gas, that it must be driving the current climate, is just wishful thinking.  Since this question can be answered using high school education level, that is all I need to claim.  I am confident I could have answered this question without a degree.   I read Asimov on Physics when in Junior High and that should be sufficient for this question.

Answer 15

1. NO.  I Believe its Climate change, not Global warming. It's a  Natural Cycle.

2. HYPOTHETICAL

3.  Algonquin College, Ottawa, Canada

         - Computer Engineering Diploma - College (1988)

         - Electronics Engineering Diploma - College (1991)

Answer 16

what does physics have to do with Climatology ?

very little...

1 yes

2 proven many times over

3 none

Answer 17

1)   Do you believe the greenhouse effect is proven, or just hypothetical? I ask because some believe there is no proof of the greenhouse effect.

Absolutely not!  It's all a scare to keep us busy paying carbon credits and figuring out where to reduce "carbon foot prints."  Wait, don't turn on that light!  "I can't go to the movies. I have to figure my carbon footprint for the day and write out my weekly check to Gore, Dewey, Cheatem & Howe.

Not a physics student.  Just wary and heard all the scares before, Y2K, immenent ice age, terrorist alerts, SARS, Bird flu, blah blah blah, coffee is bad for you, coffee is good for you ad nauseum!

Answer 18

Good to see you again Dana.

My Physics degree of "schooling" is at the Masters level -- had to study how tree rings formed based on climate.  Oddly for a MFA in writing!  LOL

I agree man made climate change is rapidly occurring today, but as a result of what we did... say 50 years go... what is te scale?  The curve on behavior and impact still has to be clearly defined.  Here's a neat thought... did the extensive coal burning of the 1890s lead to the massive influenza epidemic of the late 1910s?  Did high air bore pollutants contribute to the first "man made" global illness?

Global warming and greenhouse gas issues are reality.  Time to stop bickering with the idiotic minority of denial and move forward on this issue.  Let Mr. Jello put his head in the sand.  Those of us dwelling in the today have to start impacting policy makers...now.

Answer 19

1. Yes.  (Actually, humans themselves do not cause that much global warming... It is their activities, their machines, and the livestock they raise that cause global CLIMATE CHANGE).

2.  The existence of the greenhouse effect has been proven.  Greenhouses exist because it is true.  We see it everyday we get into a car that has been sitting in the sun and feel that it is much hotter than the outside air.  As for "global warming," the ability of humans to change the environment through their actions, it is also clearly possible.  Start with the concept of local warming.  It is usually hotter in the city than the countryside during the summer and winter.  This is because in the winter, we have heaters in our homes that change the environment contained in the home, in the summer, we have heat exchangers (air-conditioners) which take the heat from the inside of our homes/offices and put it outside (and they add the heat that is the product of inefficiency).  We all believe that we can change the local warming.  The basis of the idea that we cannot have an effect on the global climate stems primarily from the concept that the system is too big to be affected by the activities of little people.  People believe that the atmosphere is so large that the extra heat we are putting into it has no effect.  It is as flawed as believing that pissing in the ocean does not affect sea level.  It does, just minutely.  Every action has an effect.  It may be small, but when combined with millions or billions of other actions, it can have a huge effect.  Imagine a virus.  Each virus only affects a few cells.  But when there are thousands or millions of these viruses makes larger organisms ill or die.

3.  College education level in physics.

P.S. Ever notice that the people who refuse to believe in global warming despite all the logic and evidence in support of it, won't let go of their believe in some diety or "GOD," despite all the evidence against the existence of those entities?