Was Al Gore being dishonest or is he just ignorant...?
Its closer to 60% hotter. This is quite alot less than 3 times hotter.
Answer:
Dana said:
It appears that Al Gore is correct and you are not.
"although its average surface temperature is 167 °C (333 °F). In contrast, the average surface temperature on Venus is actually hotter at a very stable 464 °C (867 °F) because of its thick atmosphere."
Not quite 3 times hotter, but close.
When you asked this question, were you being dishonest or ignorant? :-)"
Anybody with a lick of science background knows that when comparing temperatures and saying something like, "A is X times hotter than B" that you have to use an ABSOLUTE temperature scale - Celsius and Fahrenheit don't cut it, buddy. You have to go with Kelvin. When you do, you get:
Average Mercury temp of 440K, 60% of Venus' temp of 737K.
Looks like DSL was more than generous. Dana and Gore WAY off the mark.
But, by convention, when people talk about how hot it was during the day, no one talks about the average temperature, they go with the daytime highs, which yields a temperature of 700K on Mercury and 737K on Venus, a 5% difference.
Wait a second, you say, why didn't you use the daytime highs of Venus? Here's the kicker: those surface temperatures are virtually uniform from pole to pole. Variation of venusian temperature is primarily a function of altitude, not latitude or time of day. In fact, there is great question that the popular "runaway greenhouse effect" is a valid explanation for the incredibly high temperatures.
http://www.firmament-chaos.com/papers/fv...
As far as the use of absolute temperature scales, I give Gore a pass, because...well...he doesn't know anything about science. But anybody with a degree in a physical science that is either ignorant or intellectually dishonest to misrepresent that information, or worse yet, someone who holds a GRADUATE DEGREE that does the same - TOTALLY UNEXCUSABLE. To think of all that college tuition, completely blown...
Well, you're both right. You're looking at the daytime temperatures. And then 60% is correct. But if you include nighttime (Mercury cools a lot at night, Venus, hardly at all) he's right. But Al Gore is no scientist.
So don't listen to Al Gore. Listen to the scientists instead. They say that global warming is real, and 80-90% caused by us.
http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/ima...
http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report.
summarized at:
http://www.ipcc.ch/spm2feb07.pdf...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/scientific_...
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/fu...
I bet you'll use that as an excuse to deny global warming, huh?
The point is, Venus is hotter than Mercury.
Al Gore knows about as much about the Solar system as he does about the reality of Global Warming -- which is nothing.
It appears that Al Gore is correct and you are not.
"although its average surface temperature is 167 °C (333 °F). In contrast, the average surface temperature on Venus is actually hotter at a very stable 464 °C (867 °F) because of its thick atmosphere."
Not quite 3 times hotter, but close.
When you asked this question, were you being dishonest or ignorant? :-)
He also said he invented the internet and Love story was written about him and Tipper. Don't read the New York times unless you just like reading exaggerated nonsense like this. I would find it rather funny if there weren't so many gullible people out there. Do you think maybe they just sit around at the NY TIMES and take bets on how many people will believe ANYTHING?
This might help you understand, I've done a search...
The atmosphere is also a major reason for the high temperatures on Venus. The carbon dioxide atmosphere allows the entrance of visible radiation which warms the planets surface. The planet then re-radiates infrared radiation. But this infrared radiation is blocked by the carbon dioxide atmosphere and trapped within. This effect is identical to what happens with your car on a hot sunny summer day. This characteristic is referred to as the greenhouse effect. This is the same greenhouse effect that is often the subject of newspaper and magazine articles.
People keep trying to disprove his FACTS only to find that he's right.
The polar ice caps on Mars are melting at almost the precise rate as those on Earth. Can anyone explain what man is actually doing to melt the ice caps on Mars? To even think that man can warm the earth, short of nuclear armageddon or inducing dozens of volcano's, is foolish and egotistical. The sun gets warmer or cooler, as stars do, and the earth shifts its axis somewhat, as planets do, planets get a bit closer or farther away from the sun as planets do.
The issue is just whether he wanted to point out that closer to the sun was not necessarily hotter. Or if he had another point in mind. I did not see the article Not sure if he bothered to look at the areas presented to the sun (Mercury is much smaller) and the effects of an atmosphere loaded with sulfuric acid as well as CO2.
And whether or not the rotation of Venus, vastly different from the Earth, contributes to is temperature also. I suppose the effect is minor, but surely the fast rotation of the earth contributes some breezes to evaporate water off the surface and cool it a bit, while of course moving the water vapor, as a very potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere where it can do the most good!
Al Gore is first and always a politician, and in this country, politicians do not have to think correctly or logically or even have the right facts. If they make an impressive speech out of it, many will listen, applaud, and go home with incorrect information and ideas. And many more will leap on what they then see as a bandwagon.
I think he is an honest politician (and that usually is different from an honest person), and has found a way to make a really great and comfortable living off parts of information and innuendo and great speaking ability. Crowd control. Together with a lot of seed money to get things moving right for him.
I do not think he would let any real honest facts stand in his way. Or any honest people. Besides, does he really write his own speeches?
But he sure is convincing when he says the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it!! And the headsman checks the sharpness of his blade!
Lavaman...did I miss the new information that says the Russian probes were wrong and light DOES come through the venusian atmosphere to the surface?
Wow, Al Gore said something that isn't quite right, therefore global warming is a massive hoax!
How do we explain that the earth was actually warmer from about 900-1200 than it is now. Greenland was actually green and they grew grapes there. There were no SUVs, no houses, no tanks or planes.
Then in the mid to late 1970s there was actually a global COOLING scare. It is intellectually dishonest to think that we can go from global cooling to warming in thrity short years.
Global warming is a joke, and more and more scientists are backing off of their original claims. It is nothing more than a way to redistribute wealth and keep people more under the thumb of the government.
Why do you listen to anything that comes from a politician's mouth? I think it would cut down on global warming if we eliminated that big source of hot air.
BOTH!
I think he is just ignorant, and really doesn't understand science. 3DM and dsl explain the temperature comparison between the two planets correctly. Dana1981, has got it completely wrong. Back to the books for both Dana and Gore.
The science you using is subjective. On Al Gore knows the true temperature. Al put on his superman outfit and flew into space where he took a reading right on the planets themself's. All hail - Al Gore the leader of the new world order.
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