A beautiful explanation of the atmospheric system. And funny thing – you don’t need anything but classic physics/chemistry to understand it. Here is a starter:
P is pressure. V is volume. If pressure goes up, volume must go down as long as all other things are kept equal (that is, the other side of the equation does not change). On the other side, n is the amount of stuff you have in “moles” (a particular number of atoms or molecules of ‘stuff’). For the atmosphere as a whole, n is almost a constant. (More on that a bit later). R is a constant. T is temperature. So if Temperature goes up, either Pressure or Volume must go up (for a constant amount of gas).
The atmosphere is shrinking. So says NASA. You can go to the link at the top of the page (or here) to see one guy’s view of the meaning of it all.
Comments
6 responses to “PV=nRT”
My understanding is that increasing CO2 should result in a cooler upper atmosphere. CO2 up there may absorb energy from other molecules through collision, then radiate that energy to space. That wouldn’t happen, say, if the upper atmosphere were only nitrogen. Increasing CO2 thus would provide a pathway for more energy out of the upper atmosphere.
So CO2 heats the earth and cools the earth?
Clever gas. There is nothing it can’t do.
You should read the linked article.
Roy Spencer does a good job explaining it here:
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2011/12/why-atmospheric-pressure-cannot-explain-the-elevated-surface-temperature-of-the-earth/
Steve,
We are not discussing pressure (assumed nearly constant at the link). Or pressure heating. We are discussing volume. And cooling.
You might want to read the link I provided (twice).
But just to make it easy for you:
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/some-thoughts-on-pivnurt/
Further,
The proposition is “shrinking atmosphere is an indicator “T” is falling.” Spenser does not deal with that issue.
What is ChiefIO saying?
The energy balance has changed.