So I was thinking about the earth this morning and about how locations on the equator are the hottest locations on earth. The reason for this is because those locations are nearest to the sun, right? Ok, well then I started to think about archeologists and how they are uncovering civilizations beneath our feet everyday. Then when I started to think about how easily artifacts get buried and forgotten, it occured to me that we are getting closer and closer to the sun each day!
Just our everyday living causes the earth to build up. Even Jamestown (built only 400 years ago) is being excavated right now. So what if our gradual temperature changes are merely a result of our elevation rising?
I'm sure just about every scientist on earth is laughing at me right now, but it's something to think about!
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As I understand it, the actual distance to the sun has little effect on the temperature at the equator. We're talking thousands of miles from equator to the poles versus millions of miles from earth to sun. I think it has more to do with the angle at which the sun hits the Earth.
At the equator, the variability of the sun's position in the sky is minimal (hence no seasons). The sun is pretty much directly overhead year round. I don't mean that the sun is out year round at the equator, I just mean that the sun's "trajectory" is directly overhead. It's like shining a flashlight down on a patch of asphalt. If you hold it directly over the asphalt, the light is more focused and more intense.
Now, at the poles, the sun is lower in the horizon. It's similar to holding the flashlight at an angle. The light is more diffuse; spread out over more of an area. The light is less intense over the areas in which it covers.
Anyway, I could be making this all up.
Well...not so much, and I say because the theory doesn't involve the conservation of mass wherein Mass in to a system = Mass out of a system.
Earth is a closed system. You may argue that we are accumulating matter as we travel through space, but on the surface we are all consumers of our past. The dirt that covers our archeological digs is the decomposition of yesterdays cultures/creatures/plants of the past. Out of these things we take todays fruits/vegetables/raw materials and the cycle perpetuates itself.
We are all part of the same composte heap.
BEHOLD!! THE GEOCHRON!! This helps to illustrate Kramer's point, though I'm not quite scientific or motivated enough to figure out exactly why. It all has to do with angles and orbits and such. Anyway, the light area of the map represents daylight. Over the course of the year, that area will basically invert. So 6 months from today, it will look the same, just upside down. Something like that. Also, on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the day/night lines will be straight up and down. The equator is in the middle top to bottom, so it gets the same amount of sun pretty much year round. So it's hot down there. Also, a lot of people in that area don't have air conditioning, so of course it's going to be hotter!
Another possible explanation: Ever been in a room full of people? It gets hot in there. People generate heat. Earth's population has increased quite a bit in the recent past. More people = more heat. Not in the sense that more people means more oil consumption and greenhouse gasses and all...just that peoples' bodies give off heat as a rule.
Either way, I don't think global warming is nearly as important as a lot of people would have you believe. Boy, it sure is a fun cause to get behind and scream at to anyone who will listen though, isn't it!
Geez, I had no idea my stupidity would cause such great conversation!
Now, I'm even beginning to think to myself how stupid my idea is, because the higher up you go, the COLDER it becomes. Like when you climb a mountain, it's freakin freezing up there. So even if my theory carried any weight, we'd all be getting colder instead of hotter.
Sometimes I completely understand why I'm part Polish.
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