Post by nautonnier on Feb 18, 2021 18:06:24 GMT
So there are people demanding that we eat knitted steaks to reduce cattle farts because 'methane is responsible for 4 times more forcing' per kilogram than CO2.
OK.... so the definition of 'forcing' used is the amount of IR energy trapped by a gas in the atmosphere and CH4 apparently traps more IR than CO2. However, this definition confuses heat with radiant energy. The IPCC assumption is that if more energy is trapped the Earth must be warmer
So the point of this thread and post is to ask if anyone knows what happens to the IR absorbed by the CH4 molecules.
Does it increase the kinetic energy of the molecule (i.e. its temperature)?
Does it just get absorbed and increase the vibrational energy of the Carbon atom between the 4 hydrogen atoms - no increase in temperature?
Does it get released in random directions as CO2 absorbed IR photons are - so making its green house effect similar to CO2?
I get the feeling there is going to be a lot of handwaving again as there always is when you get to the base assumptions in AGW. It is important to ensure that we are correctly assessing what the effects on a CH4 molecule are of an incident IR photon.
OK.... so the definition of 'forcing' used is the amount of IR energy trapped by a gas in the atmosphere and CH4 apparently traps more IR than CO2. However, this definition confuses heat with radiant energy. The IPCC assumption is that if more energy is trapped the Earth must be warmer
So the point of this thread and post is to ask if anyone knows what happens to the IR absorbed by the CH4 molecules.
Does it increase the kinetic energy of the molecule (i.e. its temperature)?
Does it just get absorbed and increase the vibrational energy of the Carbon atom between the 4 hydrogen atoms - no increase in temperature?
Does it get released in random directions as CO2 absorbed IR photons are - so making its green house effect similar to CO2?
I get the feeling there is going to be a lot of handwaving again as there always is when you get to the base assumptions in AGW. It is important to ensure that we are correctly assessing what the effects on a CH4 molecule are of an incident IR photon.