When do believers think it's going to start raining sulfuric acid?

Question

Dr. Stephen Hawkings made the statement that the Earths climate was going to warm up to 250 degrees Celsius (450 Fahrenheit) and rain sulfuric acid.

Will this happen soon? Will this occur in our lifetime?

Will we resort to cannibalism first, or wait until it starts raining acid?

Dr. Hawkings is one of the smartest people in the world. Surly you have to believe what he says, especially if you believe Pat Roberson, is knowledgeable in science, right?

http://www.livescience.com/environment/ap_060622_hawking_climate.html

Answer 1

It already rains sulfuric acid.  Here is a link from the USGS or United States Geological Survey

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/acidrain/2.html

It also rains carbonic acid and nitric acid.

But its all good we all already as a society accepted carbonic acid as something that is good to drink.  Have you ever drank carbonated soda?

Answer 2

Wow, you're certainly contemptuous of all that weird 'science' stuff, huh? If you had actually read the entire Hawkings report, you might have noticed that this prediction was based on current climate trends and is a LONG RANGE prediction. That means no, not in your lifetime. As for Pat Robertson, he has about as much knowledge of science as a pair of tweezers.

Answer 3

Although it's hard to believe, but it seems possible. If this guy is so smart, he can't be telling us complete bull.

I don't think it would be in our lifetime, but the way people act about the environment nowadays, it is possible. I don't completely deny it.

Answer 4

It never will happen on Earth.

Sciencetists once also belived the atom was the smallest part of matter too. Just because Dr. Hawkings says something doesn't make it so. This is science not dogma.

Answer 5

Never.  That doesn't mean it's something we can ignore.

It won't be a Hollywood movie style disaster. Gradually coastal areas will flood and agriculture will be damaged. But it will be very bad. Rich countries will cope, but it will take huge amounts of money. In poor countries many people will die of starvation, but not all of them.

We won't let it get to the point Hawkings is talking about.  The question is will we address it now, while it's relatively easy to avoid that, or later, when it will be a far more desperate struggle.

Answer 6

Free speech did not include responsible speech. One of his peers said he was overstating the case.

Answer 7

Hawking's truly a man ahead of his time. It only took him thirty years to prove himself wrong. The man does have integrity though, and he admitted to it. The ironic part of his story is that scientist disputed his information paradox theorem when first introduce, and then laughed at him when he proved it wrong. Time for a Fosters and a stogy.

Answer 8

might the fact that venus's atmosphere is 95% co2 & ours is only 1/3 of 1% co2 ( a trace gas) have an effect on when or if this could happen?

one thing Hawkins has said that I agree with is that we must get off this planet & start self sustaining colonys on other bodys in the solar system if mankind is to survive.

I'm ready to go now to get away from the clueless whackos that are taking over this world.

Answer 9

Dr. Hawkings is a cosmologist. he is used to thinking of huge numbers; time scales of millennia to billions of years, millions of planets with hugely different conditions. only look at our nearest 2 neighbors in this solar system alone, and you see the extremes of conditions that could ultimately occur if the earth's 'bio-feedback' thermostat was disabled. that's what he was on about. he is way above us ordinary humans in his thinking.

anyway, he didnt 'make a statement' he gave a worst-case scenario. do keep up!

Answer 10

The real question is, What will that do to the paint job on my SUV??????

Answer 11

Try reading or researching what Stephen Hawking said to go along with that statement.   I'm sure there was more to it than just that.    The rain on Mount Washington in New Hampshire has been measured to be as acidic as vinegar.   The clouds passing over the summit are sometimes as acidic as lemon juice.

Answer 12

Actually, there's quite a bit of Sulfuric acid in the rain right now.  

I think it could easily go as high as 900 degrees, if we continue to drag our asses the way we have been the last 8 years.   These were the original predictions, and I'll stick with them until someone shows me a more credible figure.

When?  You're a difficult person to discuss that with Dr. J, because you make it into a lose/lose question.  My answer for you then is sooner than YOU think.

As far as the cannibalism, you can go ahead and start tonight if you want to.  Don't let me hold you back.  Looking at the fare in the Global Warming section of Yahoo Answers, I must say there are a few people who do look mighty tasty, but I must be brutally honest and tell you you aren't one of them.

Hawking versus Pat Robertson eh?  There's a toughie.  Somehow my suspicious nature moves me to think that once again the Trickster is afoot with this question.  You haven't given me a reason to believe either of them.  Or are we supposed to believe people just because they're smart?  If that were true I would expect >90% of the people in this section to believe me.

Answer 13

You clearly haven't thought this through, nor have you read the article very carefully.

Hawking refers to Venus and the runaway greenhouse effect that's now blanketing the planet. But that process took millions of years. How it started is anyone's guess, though one of the theories is that massive amounts of CO2 from underneath the planet's surface somehow burped up through the crust and started the process.

Yes, global warming is a very real and very dangerous issue (unless you listen to scientists that are in the back pocket of heavy industry and the oil companies), but in no way did Hawking suggest that the earth is in imminent danger of sulfuric acid rain.

Answer 14

stephen hawkings is a wheelchair, why would you believe a wheelchair?

Answer 15

Ugh people don't know what they are talking about. Sulfuric acid is the acidic component in acid rain which is already happening.