New Title: Global warming to cause second Ice age within decades

Mike, CFCs are one of a bouquet of greenhouse gasses. It has a dual effect though, it depletes ozone. It's artificially created and was used in industrial products. From aerosol cans to foam packageing. It's been limited but its production was not nearly so great as the production of carbon dioxide is. Ozone is O3 (a molecule of 3 oxygen atoms, which is poisonous as it would happen) and it is very translucent in infared and visable light spectrums but very opaque in ultraviolet. The sun emmits light across the elctromagnetic spectrum from radio to infared to visible to ultraviolet to microwave to xray to gammaray. Ozone, lucky for us, blocks ultraviolet radiation. Thats nice of it because UV is ultimately hazardous radiation. Without it, we'd constantly be sterilized inside and out (we are somewhat translucent to UV as we are to say.. X-rays) and we'd likely all be dead. While it was inconsiderate of those CFCs to consume that ozone we're lucky enough that they did so mostly in the southren polar regions. UV, is why our skin gets burned in the sun (it's not the infared or visable light that does it), why we get melanoma and it's why you'll never burn if you're laying out by the dead sea. The atmosphere is so thick there (since it's so far below sea level, -1400 feet, the atmosphere density protects you. To the contrary, you'll burn pretty qucik in Denver and VERY quickly in Antartica.

Carbon dioxide, which trees breath and we exhale as a waste gas is translucent in visable light but is opaque in infared. This means it aborbs heat though light passes though it. In absorbing it it keeps the planet warmer. Without a good measure of CO2 (carbon dioxide) the earth would be too frigid. However, with too much (case and point: Venus) the world becomes too hot. It's not as simple as this but it should give you a good picture. CO2, Water Vapor, CFCs and Methane (produced by bogs, cows, cars and industry) are gasses that work just like a greenhouse does. It keeps the temperture warm inside while it is cold outside. Heat comes in and can't come out. Our planet is something of a greenhouse as it is and we need it to be. But with too much of these gases (just like in an experimental greenhouse and just like Venus) the planet becomes too hot for things like water to fall to earth or ice to freeze. Ice Ages are nice in contrast to the ultimate effetcs of a runaway greenhouse effect. Effects such as 900ºF summers and 899ºF winters.

Tracer, I'm dumb.

Please, sum that up for me because my brain hurts.

;)

CFC = Inert Molecule that unfortunatly, when ionized (in the upper atmosphere all things get ionized) it reacts poorly with O3 (ozone). CFC's also absorb infared radiation.

Ozone = Ozone is a molecule that is 3 atoms of oxygen. We breath oxygen molecules, O2 in particular, but ozone is a poison. The nice part about ozone is that we don't breath it. Not often at least, because it's usually found in the upper atmosphere we're we don't hang out. Another nice thing about it is that it's thoughtfull enough to absorb/reflect ultraviolet radiation (UV rays). We've never thanked it for that so it was always bitter.

CO2 = Carbon Dioxide. Trees love the stuff. We exhale it after breating in oxygen. The tree then breath in the CO2 and thank us for that by exhaleing Oxygen (O2) which we in turn really like as well. It's a good thing we got going. Trees also make wood. Dead trees and fallen folliage makes fungus which breathes out Nitrogen into the very soil. Something all plants dig the fungai for. One thing that CO2 does for us, and it's very super nice of it, is it keeps us from ending up like Mars. Without CO2 we'd be very very cold. See, CO2 absorbs infared raditation. We're fine with Infrared, we raditate quite a bit of it ourselves as does the whole planet. It's not harmfull like Gamma or UV radiation. It's more like visable or raido - things we're very accustomed to. CO2 keeps that radiation from flying off into space entirely. Long story short - CO2 keeps us warm. So do CFCs as I mentioned earlier! Is there such as thing as too much of a good thing? The more of it we have the warmer we stay. But what if it gets too warm? That's ok, because trees turn it into wood and oxygen, two immensely usefull things! But what if there's way too much CO2 than there are trees and plants to filter it? What if there are now these metal things called cars produceing a ton or more of CO2 each every year? Might get a little warm. But better hot than cold right?

Maybe.

H2O = Water. Two atoms of hydrogen, a light and fluffy flamable substance, and one atom of oxygen (more of that usefull stuff). Without liquid water everything dies. Without fresh (i.e. not salt water, another odd poison made of very usefull stuff) liquid water we're still not any better off. H2O can be seen in many forms. It's in its liquid form, as water. It carrys its temperture really well and it doesn't disapate quickly. It can be made into steam, or water vapor. If this water vapor cools it condences and becomes water again. If it cools very quickly, it becomes crystaline (or solid) and we call that Clouds. If water cools on the surface, not as water vapor, it becomes ice. Burrrrr. Water can be alot of things, but as clouds, specifically, it does something that CO2 also does. It traps infared radition on earth! This is why it stays warner at night when it is cloudy than it does when it is clear skys. There's no extra heat coming in, so clearly it's traping (like a greenhouse) heat on earth. Just like CO2 and CFC's do.

There's an equilibrium to things here on Earth. Trees do what they do, animals do what they do and never do they do much anything new or in large amounts. Humans do things, things that nature isn't exactly 100% prepared for. It's not well equiped to deal with global scale industry and its by products. Powerplants, cars, and other industrial plants and mills pump millions of megatons of CO2, and Water Vapor as well as CFC's (though not nearly so much as we did in the 1980's) into the air along with the paltry amount of CO2 we and all other animals breathe out. When forests are burned, it also releases lots of CO2 into the air. Burning just about anything relases CO2 because the carbon (in all things, carbon is the basic element of life on earth) released from the fire mixes with the oxygen in the air.

That's called, "synthesis." To sythesise something, you are createing a reaction between several elements to produce another. CO2 is the most commonly synthesised element today. Oxygen used to have it beat. Oxygen is immensely usefull. Only a small amount of our atmosphere IS oxygen by the way. Most of it is Nitrogen which pretty much sticks around and it's a cool thing too. We can breathe alot of Nitrogen no problem, so long as there's oxygen in there we're ok. Nitrogen is like the layabout in the atmosphere but it is usefull still. In the soil it allows plants to grow and we all know plants are nice things. It's 95% of our air actually so we don't have much a problem with it. Oxygen and CO2 as well as Methane (seriously, caused mostly by cows farting as well as the heating of bogs.. its responsible for the "will-o-the-wisps") and CFC's but not alot of either at all. There are other things in the air, but they're a minor foot note - things like Sulfuric Acid to which we can credit volcanos. We're not facing the threat of suffocation yet, not at all. But CO2 does pose a threat. It can, as it is wont to do, heat the earth and cause environmental reactions - some we know, some we can speculate and some we don't yet know that are not nessisarily benefical for human life or life in general. An ice age is a best case senerio really.

More words = not dumbed down.

someone else do it then.

Science makes my head hurt. You're doing fine, slugger.

*Looks at thread*

*notices that almost nobody that posts more than an sentance has ANY idea what they are talking about pretty much*

*moonwalks away from thread*

I thought I knew what I was saying...

There, there.

I guess they're going to have to start calling it British Warming now.