I think this idea may have a chance at stopping global warming. What do you think?

Question

In science, I learned that noise-cancelling headphones seem to block out noise by 'reading' the incoming sound waves and producing an exact match of each one, but in the opposite directions, so a wave with either a smaller frequency and wavelength or none at all is 'produced.' Heat from the sun travels in many different forms, but they are all waves, so couldn't the same thing be applied to the infrared or other waves that cause heat? I'm not saying to totally neutralize all incoming heat in all of its forms or even one form. I'm also not saying that I know this would work or that I know how to do it(I'm only 13,) but I just came up with it while I was watching 'An Inconvenient Truth.' Again, I have no idea how to do this, but can anyone tell me whether or not it would work?

Answer 1

Dude, you're a smart man.

I think if you researched the electromagnetic spectrum you would find that the "waves" that come from the sun are of a different kind. Sound is made up of waves of vibrating matter (air, in the case you cited) while sunlight is energy. For example, if a ball is flying at you at 50 mph, throwing a ball directly at it at the same speed would cause them both to stop in mid air or bounce off of each other, canceling them, if you will. On the other hand, energy waves are more ethereal and can pass through each-other. However, you can DIVERT energy. That's part of the function of the earth's magnetic field, which accidentally happened to be just the right strength to support life on earth. Huh... what a coincidence...

Good thinking, though.

If I were you I would research global warming and find out if it's really happening or not. Not everything you learn in school is true. With a mind like yours I think you could easily unravel the truth behind global warming. If you're into science, then you've probably learned that the earth is very cyclical, meaning nature consists of many cycles. For instance, the earth's ozone layer gets thicker and thinner over a given period of time. In addition, the earth's magnetic field weakens and strengthens over time. There are a number of examples like these. Is it not reasonable to assume that "global warming" is simply a result of the progression of these cycles? The very fact that the earth's global temperature is rising is debatable in the first place.

Answer 2

Well the sun emits enormous amounts of energy and light of all wavelengths. I can't imagine that we could produce enough waves to counter all of the sun's waves. Also, I'm not sure if the same principle as in headphones can be applied here. Mostly because we're talking about electromagnetic waves, not just vibrations in the air. On top of that, we're dealing with the wave/particle duality of light here, so when you keep in mind that light behaves not only as a wave, but as a particle, we all get pretty confused.
Don't think the plan will pan out. But nonetheless, tricky idea, good thinking.

Answer 3

The idea is rational. There are already such things as infrared, and various other electromagnetic radiation, shielding...But its not the theory its the practical application. How do you cover the entire earth in what essentially amounts to aluminum foil (seriously). you cant do it at the surface level, it wont have the desired effect. remember you're trying to cool the atmosphere not the surface. So the shielding would have to be above the atmoshpere, in space. At this point in time we dont have the technology or resources to build anything approaching that complexity or massive scale. but perhaps in the future a partial shield would be feasible if necessary. I think it more likely we can adapt to whatever this planet throws at us, and also more likely that we get off this planet before it becomes a species extinction issue...

Answer 4

Sound consists of compressions and rarefactions. Sound waves can be canceled out by neutralizing them with anti-sound. Anti-sound is sound that is generated to be the same as the sound it is intended to neutralize, but has a compression where the normal sound had a rarefaction, and a rarefaction where the normal sound had a compression.
You can't cancel out light because it consists of completely different kinds of waves, known as electromagnetic waves.
Electromagnetic waves pass through other electromagnetic waves without altering them. In other words, you can't generate "anti-light" to cancel out a beam of normal light.

Answer 5

sounds plausible. here's another solution.

I call it the snowball effect. Paint all rooftops white because white will reflect the sun's rays back up and thus simulating the ice caps. Since the ice caps are melting so quickly there is less natural reflective action so maybe painting roofs white would do the same thing?

Answer 6

Hi. Good question from a knowledgeable 13 year old. No, I'm sorry, but heat consists of a spread of frequencies so canceling them becomes problematic. Your best bet is to plant trees and conserve power.

Answer 7

You are 13 and watched "An Inconvenient Truth" twice? I bet your parents are proud of you. KEEP thinking, we need more people like you. All inventions are ideas at first.

Answer 8

All we have to do is put a giant sun shade in front of the sun for a couple hours a day.

Answer 9

KEEP LEARNING IT COME TO YOU STUDY THE EARTH CLOSELY THE NOISY IS CAUSING ANIMALS TO ACT OUT TIME WE LISTEN HOW COME YOU PICK UP MY VIBRATION IT CLEARLY DOES SOMETHING TO THE EARTH THE SEA CAN HEAR WHY NOT THE DOPLINS WHALES SHIP GET OFF