Comments on: Is Earth a closed system? How does one add/remove excess thermal energy?

By: duh1

duh1 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:39:59 +0000

I believe that the earth does vent excess heat.Have you ever noticed how much colder it gets on those starry winter nights?That is what is called convection because there are no clouds to hold the heat in our atmosphere.
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By: neoga illinois

neoga illinois — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:24:59 +0000

i think that the earth is virtually closed to mass transfer
and its an open system to heat transfer and i dont know about
momentum transfer whether it is or not

maybe we will get lucky with nanotechnology and engineer a gas that can reflect sunlight back into space
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By: amansscientiae

amansscientiae — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:08:59 +0000

If you had ever been to a desert, you would know how efficiently the planet radiates heat away: temperatures drop 30 degrees Celsius over night due to nothing else but radiation.

The only reason this does not happen nearly as fast over non-arid land areas is the water vapor in the air which creates a significant greenhouse effect. Take it away, e.g. in winter, and the nights are getting cold VERY rapidly.

In other words: your question starts with the wrong assumption. There is not much too it otherwise. And we do not need space mirrors. We are getting plenty of solar radiation the natural way.
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By: King Arthur

King Arthur — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:01:59 +0000

A closed system is when no outside energy from another source is being used. We receive light from the sun and in-return our planet turns it into heat. Another thing Global Warming is a hoax
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By: David

David — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:41:59 +0000

ha ha i thought about that, ‘why not build giant solar panels in space to block off the sun, since our polar ice cap just isn’t cutting it anymore’. we dont have the technology simply put.

theres probably a huge matter of safety in transfering the energy if it was possible.

we need to focus getting heat from the sun away from our planet as it is. worrying about substituting energy wont help us at this point.
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By: curmudgeon

curmudgeon — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:18:59 +0000

it goes up up and away. the earth is not a closed system.
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By: A.Mercer

A.Mercer — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:29:59 +0000

Our system is not closed. We get heat from the sun every day. The night side of the planet loses heat as well. There are inputs from outside the system.
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