How many people reading this question have some idea of what 'computer modeling' means. This is called a science but how do you think it compares with say Chemistry as a science or engineering.
Is it as "real"?
2007-03-14 02:12:42 · 8 answers · asked by kent j 3 in Environment
There are way more chemists or engineers than computer modelers.
2007-03-14 16:48:03 · answer #1 · answered by Specialist McKay 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Computer modeling is not different than the models in use to explain chemistry, etc. The only difference is the complexity of what they are modeling.
Elementary physics models are very simple for example. At first you ignore such things as wind resistance and concentrate on ideal situations. Slowly you introduce other influences and the model becomes more complicated.
The trouble with weather and climate models is that there are so many variables and interdependencies that it is hard to tell if your model correctly reflects reality. All the computer is doing is helping keep track of the possibilities that build on each other in a complex system.
Compare the model of a projectile moving through the air compared to a weather model.
With the projectile you have gravity, speed, direction and wind resistance. Physicists can predict the path of a projectile with great precision.
Now consider a weather model. You have cold fronts and warm fronts and warm oceans and clouds and atmospheric inversions and sunspots and ...
A slight change in any one of these hard to measure variables throws your weather prediction out the window. Some people think that if you can get enough data and a correct computer model that you can predict the weather long term. I don't.
2007-03-14 09:56:04 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Pretty real.
No manufacturer would dream of building an airplane these days without computer modeling it first. Or a building, for that matter.
Computer modeling of climate is harder, of course. What gets peoples attention is when a wide variety of models are saying the same thing. That's what's happening with global warming. Note also that you can ignore all the detailed models and still see the basic rise of global warming. The models are used to make more specific predictions.
For basic data, as well as some modeling, see:
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf
2007-03-14 18:01:55 · answer #3 · answered by Bob 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Computer modeling is the closest scientists can get to predicting things like global warming but for it to be accurate the scientists would have to know and understand every single factor that is or could cause changes in the Earth's weather partners. I do not think it is real science, it is on such a large scale that it cannot be disproven or proven by experiment, it can only be disproven by time.
2007-03-14 09:27:52 · answer #4 · answered by gerafalop 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Most engineering and some chemistry are done with computer modelling nowdays. It is possible to test computer models and gain some confidence in their accuracy.
You don't need a computer model, however, to figure out that dumping a trillion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere will, as an isolated factor, tend to increase surface temperatures. The models come in when you try to calculate all the changes that result, some of which are mitigating, some not.
2007-03-14 09:40:28 · answer #5 · answered by cosmo 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Computer Modeling is a science related to Hallucination Modeling which was practiced by burnt out hippies in the '60s to justify their agenda with Pseudo-scientific data (fictional type data). Basically skewed software slammed into unwilling and innocent computers has replaced the LSD in this process. Long live modern technology!
2007-03-14 10:11:25 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I'd say it's more like looking into a crystal ball and saying 'tell me the future'.
We can't predict next week's weather accurately, so I very much doubt the validity of climate models. And the range that different models return is laughable.
I think they have as much a place in science as 'predictions' (I remember having to add one of those to every experiment report I did at school), but that's about it.
2007-03-14 09:40:15 · answer #7 · answered by Neilos 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Here is a link that will tell you all about it!!!
http://video.google.com/url?docid=-4520665474899458831&esrc=sr2&ev=v&q=Global+warming+swindle&vidurl=http://video.google.com/videoplay%3Fdocid%3D-4520665474899458831%26q%3DGlobal%2Bwarming%2Bswindle&usg=AL29H211315vkBsvVwxwbq_e5R7qaV9yvA
2007-03-14 23:29:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋