Global Climate Sensitivity to CO2 Increases

The term greenhouse effect is still commonly used in relation to global warming even in scientific articles despite the two process being different. A greenhouse prevents heat loss by restricting convection. In the case of global warming 54% or so of the short wave radiation from the very hot sun is absorbed by the Earth…

Highveld 2020 Summer Rainfall Onset

Spring can be short-lived on the Highveld. Winter can change to summer as afternoon temperatures escalate rapidly or the long winter drought ends with a bang. This post deals with the onset of summer rains which have shown a trend towards starting later at this location -26.14S, 28.34E. To avoid taking the onset as being…

Special Relativity – a Layman’s Guide Part 2

Part 1 took us a large part of the way from the first theories of motion almost to the time at which Einstein was able to absorb the existing knowledge and extend it, largely through thought processes rather than experiments. Maxwell’s discoveries (Part 1) engendered a good deal of thought as to how electromagnetic waves…

Special Relativity – a Layman’s Guide Part 1

To be clear from the start this is a guide for the layman by a non-scientist. For long I had thought I should have at least some understanding of it but any article by some authority quickly lost me. One vaguely knew of the twins where one set off in a spaceship and came back…