Here's an Odd Article: I just saw this headline on mashable.com "Every observatory in the world now reports carbon dioxide is at highest level in 4 million years" I was unaware of the...

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I just saw this headline on mashable.com "Every observatory in the world now reports carbon dioxide is at highest level in 4 million years"

I was unaware of the existence of scientific measuring instruments 4 million years ago.
--Bob

donolea Loc: Nashville, TN

rmalarz wrote:

I just saw this headline on mashable.com "Every observatory in the world now reports carbon dioxide is at highest level in 4 million years"

I was unaware of the existence of scientific measuring instruments 4 million years ago.
--Bob

Yeah, and who was monitoring them?!

Keldon Loc: Yukon, B.C.

It's possible to measure the carbon dioxide content in ancient air bubbles trapped in the Antarctic and Greenland icefields.

PhotoPhred Loc: Cheyney, Pa

Keldon wrote:

It's possible to measure the carbon dioxide content in ancient air bubbles trapped in the Antarctic and Greenland icefields.

That's right, Keldon.

Big Bill Loc: Phoenix, AZ

Keldon wrote:

It's possible to measure the carbon dioxide content in ancient air bubbles trapped in the Antarctic and Greenland icefields.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Keldon wrote:

It's possible to measure the carbon dioxide content in ancient air bubbles trapped in the Antarctic and Greenland icefields.

All good... if we know the diffusion rate of CO2 through ice, the thickness of the ice as it varied over time, the gradient caused by changes in CO2 in the atmosphere relative to what is in the bubbles, all calculated using knowledge developed over 100 or so years and extrapolated to 4 million years. As a scientist I feel I have a pretty good understanding of the scientific method, and I know that interpolation is far safer than extrapolation. But I do take my hat off to archaeologists and astronomers who have done quite an amazing job of figuring out who we are and where we came from.

But those theoretical physicists like Hawking still baffle me... I mean, what was there before the big bang? How long did that phase last? When was "Time ZERO?" Things too close to a black hole get sucked in, but stuff just beyond that limit can avoid being sucked in; so is there a zone around the black hole that is emptier than the average vacuum of space (you know, that area where even a Swiffer wouldn't get dirty)?

PhotoPhred Loc: Cheyney, Pa

I agree, it is amazing how these guys think. I often wonder what Isaac Newton would be thinking about today.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

JohnFrim wrote:

All good... if we know the diffusion rate of CO2 t... (show quote)

John....Actually, I believe God did it....BUT....for those who don't....I gotta ask, if everything (think of the entire mass of the universe), came from a spec in space smaller than an atom....why that spec in space? Why not a spec in space two atoms over?

donolea Loc: Nashville, TN

SteveR wrote:

John....Actually, I believe God did it....BUT....for those who don't....I gotta ask, if everything (think of the entire mass of the universe), came from a spec in space smaller than an atom....why that spec in space? Why not a spec in space two atoms over?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

donolea wrote:

Yeah, and who was monitoring them?!

Ice

http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/co2/ice_core_co2.html

richosob Loc: Lambertville, MI

SteveR wrote:

John....Actually, I believe God did it....BUT....for those who don't....I gotta ask, if everything (think of the entire mass of the universe), came from a spec in space smaller than an atom....why that spec in space? Why not a spec in space two atoms over?

👍👍👍👍

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

rmalarz wrote:

I just saw this headline on mashable.com "Every observatory in the world now reports carbon dioxide is at highest level in 4 million years"

I was unaware of the existence of scientific measuring instruments 4 million years ago.
--Bob

Could they be observing core samples from earth and ice?

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

SteveR wrote:

John....Actually, I believe God did it....BUT....for those who don't....I gotta ask, if everything (think of the entire mass of the universe), came from a spec in space smaller than an atom....why that spec in space? Why not a spec in space two atoms over?

You mean Pluto?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

romanticf16 wrote:

Could they be observing core samples from earth and ice?

whitewolfowner

Sounds like an Al Gore report from the same fantasy land that the theory of evolution and carbon dating came from. All are extremely questionable for their accuracy and being scientifically sound. We have been fed so much bull about the Earth, especially it's past, it's unbelievable. That report has about the same reliability to be a truth as is anything that comes for Washington these days.