Posted on 11/16/2007 11:23:52 AM PST by Rb ver. 2.0
(ZURICH, SWITZERLAND) - Rising temperatures due to global warming could affect the most basic unit of measurement known to man - time, disrupting solar calculations that can be predicted centuries into the future.
"The basic premise is as the earth's temperature rises, the atmosphere thickens, gaining mass which will exert a measurable pressure upon the planetary axis of rotation", says Dr. Heimel Van Ulderwert of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich.
Dr. Van Ulderwert presented his theory today in a report issued at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and cautions that "although the calculations are sound we won't know exactly the extent this effect could have on world economies".
"As the Earth's atmosphere thickens it will act as an automobile brake slowing the axis rotation; Modern time keeping will not be affected", referring to clocks, "but culturally, this could significantly affect societies that rely on predicted, exact sunrise and sunset times in ceremonial and religous activities" Dr. Van Ulderwert said.
Other activities that could be affected are hunting and fishing in European countries where sunrise/sunset times are used to regulate when game and certain fish can be taken. "If the sunrise or sunset is delayed by a few minutes there may be instances where fish or game taken could legitimately be within the allowable time by virtue of the sun being visible, but would be considered poaching as the sunset or sunrise time would be inaccurate on the published tables", said Chance Hollings of the EU Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs office. "We will have to address these issues on a case by case basis as they happen", he added.
This is just getting stupid now.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I have noticed for some time that it seems to be getting stupider and stupider out. I suspect that we may be entering a period of more numerous and stronger storms of stupidity. I predict that 2008 will see at least eight major episodes of gross stupidity and the media will only report on episodes which may originate on the Republican side of the aisle.
(Of course, I expect that someone, somewhere really does believe this, but they haven't managed to get published yet)
Mass, no. Density, on the other hand.......
Silly, it’s the atmosphere which gains mass. Which, being in a closed system as you point out, can only come from the earth. So a lighter earth will spin faster, exactly canceling the extra drag from the thicker atmosphere, so it’ll actually spin precisely the same!
The Earth’s rotation is already slowing down, thanks to the influence of the Moon. Sure as hell, the media will hide that fact and blame it on GW.
And the IPCC noticed that the days are getting LONGER in Australia and it's getting WARMER now. Q.E.D, global warming is proven beyond any debate.
ETH should revoke Heimel Van Ulderwert’s PhD. This is lunacy. A “thickened” atmosphere is going to slow down the earth’s rotation and hurt primitive societies? How many straws can these moonbats possibly grasp at?
“Yeah! That’s precisely the reason Venus stopped rotating! Uhhh, ... wait a minute. Venus is still rotating. My bad!”
Absolutely.
Now we have “scientists” expressing theories on presumptions for which they have not even considered the mathematical facts to substantiate the presumptions.
The biggest erroneous assumption is that, as the planet warms, and plant life finds conditions favorable to it expanding, that all additional CO2 goes into the air and not into the expanding plant life (which sucks up CO2). False assumptions lead to false premises, even without the math.
Oh my! These cultures will have to modify their equation of time calculations and throw out their old ephermerides. Stonehenge will be Unhenged and all of the sundials will be obsolete. Horror!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
He like humor good...
So telling, how such satire is take at face value precisely because it is indistinguishable from that so frequently presented in earnest. (Kinda like when I worked on a tech support line, and co-workers would call in outrageous computer problems (”my laptop slipped into the pool ... what do I do?”) which I took seriously precisely because I got real calls just as nuts!)
To toss out my standard response to such nonsense (earnest or satire):
Climate changes. Cope.
Yup, understated fact: CO2 is PLANT FOOD.
And those who believe that CO2 is a pollutant should stop exhaling.
That is being caused by none other than George Bush!
Michael Crichton needs to write a popular non-fiction book and produce a documentary to counter this crap. But if he’s thrown up his hands in disgust and retired from the fray, I can understand.
What he say!!!! Maybe I'm missing something here, but if the earth slows on it's axis, the length of a day will be something more than 24 hours. If sunrise and sunset are "delayed by a few minutes", then the the length of the day is also extended by a few minutes so modern timekeeping is most definately effected.
I smell a Rat with this article. This just does not compute.
I think his last name translates as “ScrotalWart”...
He is nuts...mass can be neither created nor destroyed, only transformed. So the mass we hass is all the mass we gonna get.
By his theory, the mass we’ve shot off into space should allow our planet to rotate FASTER!!!
Churchill Downs doesn’t generate this much horsesh-t in a year.
Let’s accept, just for the sake of argument, the premises that the atmosphere is warming, and that this warming will exert a “measurable” slowing on its rotation. So what? We already have “leap seconds.” The clock and the calendar are under constant adjustment as measurements become more precise, and we learn new facts like that the Earth is spinning on a wobbly axis.
If the sunrise/sunset times are off my a few seconds, or even minutes, I don’t think the traditional cultures that set their schedule by the rising and setting of the sun will be terribly put out. If they are, they can sync their atomic clocks to the Royal Observatory just like the rest of us.
When in danger
Or in doubt
Run in circles,
Scream and shout!
It's succinct.
The earth isn't a fixed sphere either. It is an ellipsoid due to the action of centrifugal force pulling outward at the equator.
It's not a closed system...except to leftists who believe a zero sum game applies to everything...economics and climate in particular.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.