A possible extrapolation of the mechanism of human heat stroke to global warming is raised here. When human body temperature rises due to rise in ambient temperature, the brain activates the sweat response and this leads to cooling down of the body due to evaporation of sweat. However, if the temperature is above a certain critical point, the regulating response of the brain is disrupted and sweating ceases altogether. The result is a sharp rise of temperature above 108 deg F leading to death by heat stroke. Could a similar mechanism operate in global warming in which rainfall could be compared to the sweating response?. If the atmospheric temperature is above a critical limit, rainfall could cease to happen (water cannot condense above a certain temperature) and this will prevent the only mechanism that is capable of lowering atmospheric temperature - temperature could go above 60 deg C leading to our species extinction. This could happen ANY MOMENT. Any comments?
2007-05-05 05:54:00 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Environment
No.
A human body is different than the Earth because there air and other matter all around us. So things like sweating can cool us down.
The Earth has nothing around it just the vacuum of space. When water evaporates on Earth it stays on Earth and so the heat it has absorbed stays here too.
There is another important difference as well. The heat-stroke mechanism you describe is the result of a fairly complex control system our bodies have to attempt to keep our temperature constant. The Earth has no such "intelligent" control system. Rather different parts of the Earth react to changes in stored energy depending upon the chemistry and physics of that system.
In the case of the water cycle the most important principle is that of equilibrium vapor pressure. It is a bit complicated to explain but basically the amount of water in our atmosphere is regulated by the temperature of the oceans. The warmer the ocean the more water vapor in the atmosphere. The oceans are very large and so they will only heat up a small amount meaning that the amount of water vapor in the air will not change much.
There is another important principle as well relating how much water vapor the air can hold and that is dewpoint. It is a relationship between the temperature of the air and its capacity to hold water vapor. It is very important to weather and when and where rain will fall.
Global warming will on average heat the atmosphere more than it will heat the oceans because the oceans are much more massive. What this means is that even though there will be more water vapor in the air - on average - with global warming, the air will have more capacity to hold water. That means that on average there might be a bit less rain, but by no means would rainfall stop entirely.
2007-05-05 07:57:39 · answer #1 · answered by Engineer 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
On a water planet, warming causes evaporation. More moisture in the atmosphere leads to cooling with one possible consequence being an ice age. See the movie Day After Tomorrow. Fact is, there have been numerous ice ages on this planet, and science is at a loss to properly explain how these occur.
2007-05-05 06:01:57 · answer #2 · answered by warrentalb 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The rain forest loves the CO2 that we generate . They need the CO2 as we need oxygen . The CO2 actually accelerates the plants growth.
2007-05-05 08:35:29 · answer #3 · answered by JOHNNIE B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
bears cant run downhill, and we could all die out at anytime.
Dont sweat the petty things and dont pet the sweaty things.
2007-05-05 06:03:50 · answer #4 · answered by Dirty Mutt 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋