Hey Bill Nye, 'How Do Greenhouse Gases Trap Photons in Our Atmosphere'? #TuesdaysWithBill| Big Think

'How Do Greenhouse Gases Trap Photons in Our Atmosphere'? #TuesdaysWithBill

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Nature is a delicate balancing act, says Bill Nye the Science Guy. It's important we understand that the same system making Earth warm enough to live on is also driving climate change. According to Nye, scientists understand energy emanating from the sun in two distinct ways: as photons and waves.

When you measure sunlight as waves, you notice that wavelengths of sunlight are shorter when they enter the Earth's atmosphere, and grow in length when they try to leave, after being irradiated by Earth objects: soil, ice, concrete, office buildings, etc. Herein lies the primary mechanism of climate change: atmospheric gases like carbon dioxide and methane prevent longer-wave light from passing through, thus becoming trapped inside Earth's atmosphere. These so-called greenhouse gases trap light only when it tries to exit the Earth.

Bill Nye is a strong advocate for climate change awareness. He has publicly encouraged candidates for office to confront the science behind climate change and petitioned the media to ask candidates about their position on human-caused warming. Nye is the author of Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation.

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BILL NYE, THE SCIENCE GUY:

Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life. In Seattle Nye began to combine his love of science with his flair for comedy, when he won the Steve Martin look-alike contest and developed dual careers as an engineer by day and a stand-up comic by night. Nye then quit his day engineering day job and made the transition to a night job as a comedy writer and performer on Seattle's home-grown ensemble comedy show “Almost Live." This is where “Bill Nye the Science Guy®" was born. The show appeared before Saturday Night Live and later on Comedy Central, originating at KING-TV, Seattle's NBC affiliate. While working on the Science Guy show, Nye won seven national Emmy Awards for writing, performing, and producing. The show won 18 Emmys in five years. In between creating the shows, he wrote five children's books about science, including his latest title, “Bill Nye's Great Big Book of Tiny Germs." Nye is the host of three currently-running television series. “The 100 Greatest Discoveries" airs on the Science Channel. “The Eyes of Nye" airs on PBS stations across the country. Bill's latest project is hosting a show on Planet Green called “Stuff Happens." It's about environmentally responsible choices that consumers can make as they go about their day and their shopping. Also, you'll see Nye in his good-natured rivalry with his neighbor Ed Begley. They compete to see who can save the most energy and produce the smallest carbon footprint. Nye has 4,000 watts of solar power and a solar-boosted hot water system. There's also the low water use garden and underground watering system. It's fun for him; he's an engineer with an energy conservation hobby. Nye is currently the Executive Director of The Planetary Society, the world's largest space interest organization.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Billy Wickman: Hello, Mr. Nye. Happy Tuesday. My name is Billy. I'm a big fan, and I have a question about climate change. If the photons from the sun are trapped in our atmosphere by our greenhouse gases, then how come those same greenhouse gases don't block photons from the sun from ever entering our atmosphere? Is there some sort of weird cosmic one-way road sign? Thank you.

Bill Nye: Billy. Billy. Billy. You have chanced on like the most important idea right now in climate science. When you say photons from the sun come in through the atmosphere, that is absolutely true. And they go through, out through, the atmosphere, but not all of them get out at the same energy. Now here's the strange thing about light and electromagnetism. Now bare in mind we are humans trying to understand nature, and if we can't get our heads around this it's our problem. But basically, if you do experiments on waves of lights or electricity, electromagnetic waves you will find waves. If you do experiments on photons of light or electromagnetism you will find particles. You can either detect particles.......

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