My grandfather (a republican) says that it's not just the Earth that's getting warmer...it's all the planets?

Question

He says that the Democrats/Liberals are just being alarmists.

Prove him right or wrong.

Answer 1

He's older, wiser, and correct.

The link below provides some brief reports, with links to more detailed info.

EDIT: This MAY be the reason... the Sun - is a million mile wide nuclear fireball that outputs energy roughly equivalent to 100,000,000,000 (ONE HUNDRED BILLION) one megaton nuclear explosions EVERY SECOND (on average). This force is always immense, but not constant.

EDIT #2: (In response to physics nerd) True, there is some co-relation between atmospheric CO2 & mean global temperature, but the CO2 increases AFTER the temperature increase.

Answer 2

First of all, the question of global warming--and its cause--are not political questions, they are scientific ones.

As for the fact that a slight increase in solar radiation is causing warming on other planets is one that scientists investigated.  And found that it may be a small part of the cause for Earth's global warming.  But the solar radiation change can account for at most 15% of the Earth's temperature increase (go to nasa.gov or livescience.com and check the archives--this quesstion was resolved years ago).

The scientific question has been resolved--the primary cause of the current global warming is the increase of greenhouse gases due to human burning of fossil fuels.  There is no debate--certainly not a political one.

The question now on the table is what policies should be implemented to address global warming.  Now, if the people who "don't believe in global warming" want to spend their time beating a dead horse, that's their choice.  If they don't want to participate in the public debate on policy, he rest of us will decide our future--and theirs--without them.

Answer 3

if all the planets are getting hotter, then only the sun increasing its energy output could account for this.  

( http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/glob... )

the sun is, in fact getting warmer.  several sources (including helio-physiologists...solar scientists) have mentioned that since the sun is in it's middle part of it's life...it's about to start causing several problems, few years after that, it will calm down again until its end.  

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Answer 4

The sun (or, in the case of Mars, giant dust storms) may be responsible for the other planets, but it's not the main cause of global warming on Earth.

Actual data shows it's not the suns radiation that's the major cause of global warming on Earth, it's us. Solar radiation is carefully measured.  Climatologists include it in their analysis.

The results are in the report below.  Increased solar radiation is 0.12 watts per meter squared.  Man's warming is 1.6 watts per meter squared, more than ten times as much.

http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf

What scientists think.  Not from the "liberal" media.

""While evidence suggests fluctuations in solar activity can affect climate on Earth, and that it has done so in the past, the majority of climate scientists and astrophysicists agree that the sun is not to blame for the current and historically sudden uptick in global temperatures on Earth, which seems to be mostly a mess created by our own species."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2583...

Show your grandfather the Fox News story, he probably likes them.

Answer 5

it's right if the sun give more and more heat

Answer 6

It's time to send him to a home.

Answer 7

First, I am a physics nerd.

I tend to avoid politics and social issues whenever I can.

But this is totally wrong. The atmospheres on other planets (the ones which have atmospheres) are staying the same. The ones without vary between very hot and very cold with every rotation of their axis (day/night). But our planet, the one with the highest CO2 levels in 600,000 years (and that's as far back as records go... it's probably the highest level in millions of years), is the one getting warmer. The temperature goes up and down with the CO2. And besides, the sun has the same brightness and energy output as it's had for billions of years.

Answer 8

There is no observational evidence of any sort that the other planets are getting warmer.  Pure fiction.  What does he claim his source of information to be?

Answer 9

Here are a couple of sources for the warming of planets Mars and Pluto.

Answer 10

I have never heard that before, if the other planets are getting hotter too then the sun must be getting bigger and hotter or the other planets have inhabitants that are messing up their natural environment too... which is stupid to think.