There is an exciting new post on notrickszone.com here, that discusses a new paper on thermodynamics and the greenhouse effect. In addition to Gerlich and Tscheuschner and the new paper Hertzberg, et al. (2017), the recent paper Kramm and Dlugi (2011) is interesting.
Yes, indeed, all objects radiate energy if their temperature is above absolute zero. No question about it. But, if you place an object that is radiating at 101 degrees C next to an object radiating at 100 degrees C, they will both soon be radiating at 101 degrees C, not 201 degrees C. A cooler object cannot warm a warmer object, it does not happen, sorry. The second law of thermodynamics does apply.
“Thermodynamics is a funny subject. The first time you go through it, you don’t understand it at all. The second time you go through it, you think you understand it, except for one or two small points. The third time you go through it, you know you don’t understand it, but by that time you are so used to it, it doesn’t bother you any more. (Physicist Arnold Sommerfeld (1868-1951))”
“If we assume Earth is a blackbody, then subtract the solar energy reflected, from the hypothetically non-existent clouds, atmosphere, land, ice, and oceans; we can calculate a surface temperature of …”
The first climate entrepreneur to try the reductionist gambit of leaving “land , ice and oceans” out of the picture called the result of his ” sophisticated one dimensional model” “Nuclear Winter”
He was justly denounced as a charlatan by some few of Will Happer’s JASON colleagues.
The recrudescence of this sort of polemic here, in the climate wars of the 21st century, is redered all the more disgraceful , and ridiculous, by the author’s refusal to come to acknowledge or come to grips with two generations of progress in both atmospheric physics , computational hydrodynamics and the modeling of radiative transfer.
Will and Andy can go on turning to the right till the cows come home , but they’ll still be stuck at the bottom of a dry hole.
Russell, I think you missed my point. I was saying that the whole blackbody GHE calculation was absurd. In other words I agree with you.