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Environment

Global warming

October 16, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 42

Among the multitude of facts and opinions in magazines, books, and on television, I have never seen an analysis of whether or not global warming will be self-limiting due to the effect of the Stefan-Boltzmann law (see also Wien's law). This law of blackbody radiation states that the energy, E, that is emitted by a body with temperature T is proportional to the fourth power of the temperature: E = σT4.

Since the average "in-radiation" from the sun at any given location and at the same time of the year is for all practical purposes a constant, any heating due to a greenhouse effect would be expected to reach a self-limiting equilibrium very quickly after only a very modest rise in temperature. The reason is that the "out-radiation" will overpower the greenhouse effect after a very small temperature rise because of the enormous countervailing effect of the Stefan-Boltzmann law.

Oswald R. Bergmann
Wilmington, Del.

ACS NATIONAL ELECTION BALLOTS

Ballots for the American Chemical Society's fall 2006 national election were mailed to members on Sept. 25. If your ballot (mailed in a white envelope with a red banner marked "Urgent Official Election Ballot Enclosed") hasn't arrived yet, you may request that a duplicate ballot be sent to you by calling VR Election Services, Customer Service at (800) 218-4026, Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-5 PM central time, no later than Oct. 27. You can cast your vote electronically or by traditional mail-in ballot. The voting deadline is close of business (5 PM CT), on Nov. 3. Election information on all candidates can be found at chemistry.org/election.

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