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The claim: An Albert Einstein paper contradicts carbon dioxide-driven climate change
Global warming is caused in part by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses Reducing the escape of thermal energie into space. And NASA reports CO2 levelsThe levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere have reached their highest level in 800,000. Years, thanks to human activity.
However, some social media users are sharing. A blog post that claims a 1917 paper by physicist Albert Einstein contradicts the idea that CO2 could drive climate change.
“Albert Einstein denies CO2 radiative warming in the atmosphere,” is the title of the blog entry. Shared Feb. 20, 2009 on Facebook.
The article also spread on Facebook and TwitterIn 2020 2021Before they reemerge again Last month.
However, this claim is false. The Einstein quote in the blog is compatible with modern climate science, according to experts. It addresses the effect of radiation on molecules – a factor in climate change – and is not a refutation of the fact that CO2 and other greenhouse gases drive climate change. The blog also mischaracterizes fundamental aspects in climate change science.
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“I have been studying the history of climate science for 20 years. “I have no evidence whatsoever to support Einstein’s claim.” Naomi OreskesUSA TODAY was informed by a Harvard University professor of history of science. He did so via email.
USA TODAY reached out via social media to those who shared the post and requested comments. The blog author was not available for comment.
Climate change caused by CO2 and other greenhouse gases
The blog claims Einstein’s writing challenges a fundamental concept in global climate change science – that CO2 in the atmosphere reduces the release of Earth’s thermal energy, or radiation, into space. But science is clear.
Climate change model Global warming is happening through a multi-step process that begins with the sun.
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The sun emits most of its radiation at wavelengths that are not absorbed by CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere. Instead, Earth absorbs the radiation, causing the planet to heat up.
The Earth’s radiation is emitted by the heat. However, Earth emits most of its radiation at different wavelengths than the sun – wavelengths that do get absorbed by CO2 in the atmosphere, Josh Willis, a NASA climate scientist, Previously told USA TODAY.
The molecule emits its radiation when it absorbs the radiation from the Earth. Some of the radiation that is absorbed by the Earth’s radiation is directed back toward Earth, further heating it.
Willis stated that increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases intensify this effect.
Blog mischaracterizes Einstein’s writings
The blog post claims that Einstein’s paper is the source of the specific passage.The Quantum Theory of Radiation“Originally published in 1916, it directly refutes the idea of CO2-driven climate changes. Experts say it doesn’t.
The content in the excerpt is “disconnected from the actual mechanisms underlying climate change,” Sukrit RanjanUSA TODAY spoke with planetary photochemist and Northwestern University postdoctoral fellow,.
In the excerpt, Einstein says an equation can be used to describe the average amount of energy molecules receive from radiation. He further states the equation is applicable regardless of what wavelengths of energy the molecules absorb and emit.
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“The blog author draws a completely speculative conclusion from Einstein’s statements.” Grant Petty, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has authored two textbooks on atmospheric physics, told USA TODAY in an email.
“There’s literally no discernible relationship between the subject of Einsteins’ paper” and the blog’s claim that CO2 can’t drive atmospheric warming, he said.
The blog post further claims Einstein’s work “refuted in advance” the idea that radiation emitted back toward Earth by CO2 could cause atmospheric warming. This is misleading too.
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The paper referenced in the blog was completed well after CO2 was identified as an important greenhouse gas in the 1800s. The idea that radiation emitted from the Earth is absorbed into CO2 and then reemitted Also, they were described. Even the potential for Carbon burning to alter the Earth’s climate was being discussed in the scientific community when Einstein was an active researcher.
USA TODAY could not find evidence that Einstein explicitly challenged those ideas.
“To my best knowledge, there is not such evidence.” Jürgen RennDirector of the Max Planck Institute for the History of ScienceUSA TODAY was contacted by a person named.
Blog mischaracterizes modern climate science
In addition to mischaracterizing the significance and nature of Einstein’s comments, the blog post misrepresents modern climate change science by claiming models only account for heat transfer through radiation.
Convection – the transport of heat via the movement of molecules in the atmosphere – and other processes are also included in climate models.
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“Many of the Modern climate science foundational papers, beginning in the 1960s, look at how convection and radiation work together,” Petty said. “The blog author apparently has no idea how many different energy transfer … processes are considered in every climate model.”
USA TODAY has previously refuted claims of climate change theory It defies the laws and laws of physicsOverstatements or understatements The role of CO2 in climate change.
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that an Einstein paper contradicts CO2-driven climate change. This claim is based on a misinterpretation of climate science and Einstein’s comments. The Einstein quote in the blog discusses the impact of radiation on molecules and does not challenge the concept of CO2-driven climate change in any way, according to experts. In the words of a University of Wisconsin professor, there is “no discernible relationship” between the quoted sections of Einstein’s paper and the blog’s claim that CO2 can’t drive global warming.
Our fact-check sources:
- Sukrit RanjanInterview with USA TODAY, Feb. 25, Telephone
- Grant Petty– March 6, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Grant Petty, March 8, Phone interview with USA TODAY
- Jürgen Renn, March 8-8, Email exchange with USA Today
- Naomi OreskesEmail exchange with USA Today, March 8-10
- Josh Willis, Nov. 23, phone interview with USA TODAY
- Ian Crossfield, March 10, Email exchange to USA TODAY
- Emily de AraújoInterview with USA TODAY, March 10, 2010.
- Lindy Divarci, March 10, Email exchange to USA TODAY
- Michel JanssenFebruary 24-25, Email exchange with USA Today
- John NortonEmail exchange with USA TODAY – Feb. 25,
- NASA, accessed February 28, Carbon dioxide
- USA TODAY, December 3, 2021 Fact check: Climate Change Theory is compatible with the laws of thermodynamics
- NASA, accessed February 28, The World of Change: Global Temperatures
- Met Office Climate Dashboard, accessed February 28, Global mean temperature variation between 1850-1900
- The Nobel Prize, accessed February 28, Albert Einstein Biographical
- Journal of Atmospheric Science July 1, 1964 Thermal Equilibrium in the Atmosphere by a Convective Adjustment
- The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazines and Journal of Science, April 1896 The effect of carbonic acids in the air on the ground’s temperature
- The Guardian, June 30, 2005 The father of climate change
- USA TODAY, Aug. 14, 2021 Fact check: An 1912 article about coal burning and climate change has been authenticated
- USA TODAY, December 3, 2021 Fact check: Climate Change Theory is compatible with the laws of thermodynamics
- USA TODAY Dec. 5, 2021 Fact check: Climate Change is driven by human-generated carbon dioxide, not water vapour
- Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (accessed March 8, 2008). Home
- The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein accessed March 8, The Quantum Theory of Radiation
- Australian Department of Agriculture Water and the Environment. accessed March 8, 2008. Understanding climate change
- The Conversation, July 31, 2020 John Tyndall: the forgotten co-founder of climate science
- The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein accessed March 10, The quantum theory of radiation cover page
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