Musicmystery
Posts: 30259
Joined: 3/14/2005 Status: offline
|
quote:
No one should worry. President Obama, working with the EPA and the global warming cabral...er....science community... is preparing emergency legislation with the Congress. While I realize you're joking, this has nothing to do with global warming, as volcanic ash is not carbon, and doesn't stay in the atmosphere long term, but rather blows along with the wind: "Small jagged pieces of rocks, minerals, and volcanic glass the size of sand and silt (less than 2 millimeters (1/12 inch) in diameter) erupted by a volcano are called volcanic ash. Very small ash particles can be less than 0.001 millimeters (1/25,000th of an inch) across. Volcanic ash is not the product of combustion, like the soft fluffy material created by burning wood, leaves, or paper. Volcanic ash is hard, does not dissolve in water, is extremely abrasive and mildly corrosive, and conducts electricity when wet. "Volcanic ash is formed during explosive volcanic eruptions. Explosive eruptions occur when gases dissolved in molten rock (magma) expand and escape violently into the air, and also when water is heated by magma and abruptly flashes into steam. The force of the escaping gas violently shatters solid rocks. Expanding gas also shreds magma and blasts it into the air, where it solidifies into fragments of volcanic rock and glass. Once in the air, wind can blow the the tiny ash particles tens to thousands of kilometers away from the volcano." http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/properties.html Fragments of rock and glass aren't greenhouse gases. And these aren't even carbon--they're silicates. Eventually, they fall back to earth.
|