Ah, what a nice day for a new experience!

Often we find ourself unable to explain something big and complex, simply because words are not enough to carry the message to understanding.

So this time we're going for an eye opener of the hands-on type.

Some of you reading this do not believe in all the talks about global warming, so we're going to put this to a test. Is it really as bad as they say, or can we all just sit back and laugh at all the hysteria?

This blog post is divided in a few chapters:

- To Be Or Not To Be (that is the question above)

- Some undisputable facts to base this on

- What you need

- The Experiment

- Conclusion

To the facts. Please let me know if any of this is untrue:

- A large mass takes more effort to heat up than a small mass.

- Planet Earth is a pretty large piece of mass.

- Putting a heat source to an object will eventually heat up the object.

- Remove the heat source and the object will in most cases cool down.

- Cooling down will take longer unless you add a cooling source equal to the heat source which brought the temperature up.

Some less well known facts:

- CO2 and average temperature shoots up by 0.7°C once per 100,000 years. The same thing happens on Mars and the reason for that is to be found in the Sun. Now is one of those occasions. Temperature decreases gradually between these occasions.

- This occurred within 100 years this time, between the years 1890 and 1990. At that time, we were unsure if nature or humans caused it.

- Between 1990 and 2005, the temperature rose an additional 0.7°C, triggering an extensive list of consequences.

Now, the temperature of 1990 is ok. Our planet can turn it around from there and has done it many times over. However, when the temperature goes beyond that, more and more things get out of balance, making the situation worse and starts accelerating the temperature instead. Humans have done nothing about it so far, instead we actually increase the heat source while removing the cooling agent.

Unfortunally we do not understand how serious the situation is, and how urgent it is that we take very substancial action starting yesterday. This is exactly what our experiment will show.

Now it's time to put my words to the test.

You need:

1 stove

1 pot holding a little more than a gallon (4-5 liters)

Digital thermometer

Water

Your hand

Fill some 3 liters or 3/4 gallon of water, make sure that the water keeps the same temperature as your skin so it's really pleasant to keep your hand in.

Put it on the stove.

Put the thermometer sensor in the water and take note of the water temperature. Now turn the display away so you don't see it.

The symbolics are extremely simple. Your hand resembles us humans. Water is the planet Earth, and the stove provides the heat source in a way very similar to the greenhouse effect. Now, since we don't have much of a choice, we have to live on this planet. Because of this, removal of your hand from the water would resemble the death of human kind. If you wonder why this is so important for this experiment, please comment and i will try to explain in some other way.

Ok, are you ready? Turn the first notch of heat on. You won't notice that, will you. Keep track of time for this first step. After a minute, turn the heat up to the second notch. By this time, you still won't feel any difference. It's ok.

Let it sit for 30 seconds before you turn it up to the third notch. By now you should feel that the temperature has risen. KEEP YOUR HAND IN THE WATER. Remember that we can't just pack up and leave this planet whenever we feel like it. So you won't either. Check the thermometer and note the temperature.

By this time you will all of a sudden be extremely aware that the temperature will continue rising. So what do you suggest we do about it?

Let's think about this, and what's on TV next week. While we discuss this, turn the heat up to notch 4. It's totally understandable if you start worrying about your hand right now. It's getting pretty hot now, so you probably want to bail out and say ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! Think about it for a bit, and now that you realize that it's going to be way too hot for your health, perhaps you won't turn it up another notch after all? Even if it's convenient to do the same thing over and over.

Ok, once you understand this, you're ready to take some serious action, right!! Ok, GO FOR IT! Turn the heat down to notch 3! To do that, you have to turn the knob a notch in the opposite direction. That should do it. No? Still hot? Dang, so you need to do more than that! Ok, now that you know how to do it, turn it down to notch 2. Great work! Now it's really time to explain to your puzzled neighbor why you're doing this, and perhaps persuade this neighbor to do the same? It's fun!

No?

Still burning hot?

Why, you just turned the heat off!

Check the display and note the temperature. Time for analysis.

Yes, i realize that there is NO WAY you can keep your hand in the water through this experiment. But nevertheless it's time for a step-by-step debriefing.

The first notch of heat was ok, you didn't notice. This resembles the rising over the 1900's. Earth can take care of that. Remember however that the industrial world had started adding to this, with effects coming with a very significant delay. It takes decades to come into effect but once there it will stay and add to the heat continuously until consumed by vegetation. When you turned to the second notch, it resembles 1990. When you started noticing a rise in temperature it was time to turn up the heat to notch 3, which resembles 2005. As we all know, human exhaust have continued to rise since then, and it has even accelerated. So it's time to turn up to notch 4.

Now it's up to you. As well as each one of us. To understand.

During this experiment, you had the option to bail out by removing your hand from the water. In reality, it's not that simple. In fact, we cannot even take the pot from the stove. We cannot get away, but still we turn the heat up another notch.

Now put your child's hand in the water.