Despite massive funding, no experiment shows a greenhouse gas effect

Introduction

First we look at a recent estimate for research funding in climate science. Then we consider the derth of empirical support for a greenhouse gas effect. No empirical observations validate this greenhouse gas effect. We exammine one paper from a peer reviewed journal which confuses heat capacity with a greenhouse gas effect. Using the example of nitrous oxide, we see there's no connection between heat capacity and the supposed greenhouse gas effect.

Massive increase in 'climate science' research funding

In 8 years of Obama's presidency funding for climate science research is estimated to have been from $16 billion to $32 billion. [see: Overland and Sovacool, 2020]

Science funding is spent, but no science is done

The big criticism of man-made climate change is that it is entirely model-based and no effort is made to validate the models. You'd think 'climate scientists' would be happy to validate their models to convince skeptics, like me, and to make a consensus on the science. Afterall, they repeatedly tell us the man-made climate change is simple physics' and 'basic science'. Yet climatists cannot show us a single primary scientific study which validates their basic greenhouse gas claim: "the greenhouse gas effect warms Earth's surface an average 32 Celsius above what it would be with no greenhouse gases in our atmosphere". They cannot show that the greenhouse gas effect is scientifically valid. They've had billions in funding but they cannot validate their main claim.

Keating, 2007

This is about all I can find:

A Simple Experiment to Demonstrate the Effects of Greenhouse Gases, 2007.

ABSTRACT: The role of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is the subject of considerable discussion and debate. Global warming is well-documented, as is the continually increasing amount of greenhouse gases that human activity puts in the air. Is there a relationship between the two? The simple experiment described in this paper provides a good demonstration of the effect of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This experiment lends itself well to astronomy, physics, and Earth science classes at the high school and college levels.

full article

It's 14 years old, and hides behind a pay-wall. They don't want us reading this. Notice how the abstract tells us nothing at all! It asserts what it is supposed to empirically show. It does not even define 'greenhouse gas effect'.

After reading the experimental method, we find they put CO₂ in one bottle and air in the other bottle. They left both bottles out in sublight and measured the temperatures inside both bottles. The bottle with CO₂ in was warmest. They think the temperature measurement differences are due to the greenhouse gas effect.

In reality the differences are due to differing heat capacities of carbon dioxide compared to air. But differing heat capacities have been known about even before thermodynamics was formulated. It has nothing to do with a 'greenhouse gas effect'.

The experiment needs to be repeated with 3 tests rather than just 2. Instead of just comparing CO₂ with air, we should compare CO₂ with air and with argon. If the effect is due to a GHGE there should be no difference between the air and the argon experiments

Levendis, Kowalski, Yang Lu and Baldassarre, 2020

Since writing this blog I found another attempted validation of the GHGE. Once again the effect they measured is due to the different heat capacities of air and CO2. Once again they never bothered to see what happens when the experiment is done with an inert gas, such as Argon. Hard for me to figure out whether they are just too thick and lazy or are delicerately disengenious.

A simple mathematical model was developed, and it confirmed that the radiative heat loss from the element decreased significantly in CO₂.

- This made me laugh. Climate alarmists want to develop a model for everything. Even when their empirical work is grossly incompetent; as this paper is.

Heat Capacity

Heat capacity is the ability of a substance to store heat. We'll compare heat capacities of some gaseous molecules. Molecules can store heat as kinetic energy, and as internal degrees of freedom. Ideal gases (helium, neon, argon, ...) only have kinetic energy storage.

heat capacity

				isobaric
# atoms / molecule	Name	Formula	Molecular mass	Cp,m J·mol−1·K−1
1	Argon	Ar	39.948	20.8
	Helium	He	4.003	20.8
	Neon	Ne	20.18	20.8
	Krypton	Kr	83.8	20.8
	Radon	Rn		20.8
2	Hydrogen	H2	2.016	28.8
	Nitrogen	N2	28.014	29.1
	Carbon monoxide	CO	28.01	29.1
	Oxygen	O2	31.999	29.4
	air (sea level), dry	N2, O2, Ar	28.965	29.07
	air (typical room conditions)			29.19
	Flourine	F2	37.997	31.3
	Chlorine	Cl2	70.905	33.9
3	Water	H2O	18.015	33.6
	Hydrogen sulfide	H2S	34.082	34.2
	Carbon dioxide	CO2	44.01	37.1
	Nitrous Oxide	N2O	44.013	38.5
	Ozone	O3	47.998	39.2
	Sulphur dioxide	SO2	64.065	39.9
	Ammonia	NH3	17.031	35.1
	Methane	CH4	16.043	35.3
	Ethylene	C2H4	28.054	43.6
	Acetylene	C2H2	26.038	43.9
	Hydrazine	N2H4	32.045	49.6
	Ethane	C2H6	30.07	52.6

In the table of heat capacities here (see above), notice:

1. Heat capacity does not depend on molecular mass
2. Monatomic molecules helium, argon, neon radon, and krypton all have the same heat capacity/mole.
3. Diatomic molecules: hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and air (99% diatomic) all have similar heat capacity/mole. Air is basically a mixture of nitrogen and oxgen in a 4:1 ratio.
4. Triatomic molecules also have similar heat capacities/mole.
5. Heat capacity, generally, increases according to the number of atoms in the molecule. triatomic > diatomic > monatomic
6. All the molecules with 3, or more, atoms shown here are termed greenhouse gases.
7. In fact: air has a small amount of CO₂ in it (0.04%) but too small to affect heat capacity by much. Air has a much larger amount of argon in it (1%). This argon in air, is the reason why the heat capacity of dry air is slightly lower than oxygen or nitrogen.
8. The heat capacity of air is the sum of the heat capacities of its constituent parts in proportion to how much is present.
9. The difference between: dry air and typical air is due to water vapour.
10. Molecules similar to each other have similar heat capacities. For example:
    • Inert gases - monatomic molecules
    • Diatomic molecules: Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Carbon monoxide, Oxygen
    • Ammonia and Methane

My conclusion

This 'experimental support for the greenhouse gas effect' is published in an educational journal: 'The Physics Teacher'. The journal says it is peer-reviewed. The method, in the paper, does not measure a greenhouse gas effect. Mr Keating got heat capacity confused with the fictional greenhouse gas effect. He does not know what he's doing, and nor do his peer reviewers. This is alarming, since it means more than one US physics teacher doesn't understand heat capacity. US students need to carefully select their physics teachers to ensure they're not lied to about basic physics.