All molecules vibrate. The molecular motion is called heat. As the molecules bump into each other, they impart motion to each other. The ones with the most motion give it up to the ones with less motion resulting in a gradual equalization for all of them. In this way, heat moves from higher levels to lower levels through conduction.
The vibratory motion of molecules also creates waves. The frequency of the vibration is the frequency of the waves. There is energy in the waves. In this way, the waves carry energy away from the molecules. All substances are emitting radiation, which cools them, due to the vibratory motion of the molecules. But each wave is extremely low in energy. It takes a lot of waves to move a small amount of energy.
If then, a molecule is heated by absorbing radiation, the energy moves outward in two ways: conduction and radiation. The energy moves into surrounding molecules by bumping into them, and a small amount emits outward through radiation.
Conduction only works when a warmer molecule bumps into a cooler molecule. The heat thereby moves from warmer to cooler. The heat spreads outward, as each molecule bumps into the ones around it. Spreading outward means the starting point is always warmer than the more distant molecules. Whatever energy is picked up by distant molecules must first be located in the starting molecule.
The total amount of heat stays fixed during conduction, except for a small amount radiating away, and perhaps more being added. This means, when one molecule is heating the ones around it, all of the heat must be located in the starting molecule before it can be transferred to surrounding molecules. Since heat moves from warmer to colder molecules, the starting point must always be warmer, and there is no such thing as a cold conduit for heat.
To heat 2,500 molecules one degree centigrade from a single starting point, the starting molecule must be 2,500°C, because all of the heat must be located in it at the start. If heat is continually being added, the starting molecule must stay at 2,500°C, while sending heat to the other 2.500 molecules and warming them 1°C, because there must be 2,500 times as much heat in the starting molecule as in each of the other molecules.
If the starting molecule does not stay at 2,500°C, it will not heat the other 2,500 molecules to 1°C. A false assumption is that the heating only has to occur once. There is no such thing as once, because the processes are dynamic, which means the molecules are constantly picking up energy and radiating it away. If the average of a dynamic system is 1°C for 2,500 molecules, then the average temperature of the source molecule must be 2,500°C. Even though radiation does not move large amounts of energy, it is radiation that starts the process as well as radiation which moves the energy outward.
If radiation goes in faster than it goes out, everything heats up until the escape rate equals the absorption rate, called equilibrium. In the atmosphere, the opposite occurs. The 2,500 molecules radiating out will approximate cool 2,500 times faster than a single CO2 molecule is picking up radiation. This means that CO2 absorption of radiation barely moves a little heat to a few surrounding molecules before equilibrating. Probably about 5 molecules are slightly warmed for each absorption by a CO2 molecule. There is no significant heating involved.
For quantities, it would take about a pico second longer for radiation to escape into space after being absorbed by CO2 than it would take radiating directly into space. The amount of sun's energy adding heat to the earth would be something like an hours worth of solar energy before radiating away. A pico second divided by 3600 seconds is 2.8 x 10-16 parts of the heat. But only about 8 x 10-5 parts of the energy strikes a relevant CO2 molecule, considering that 8% hits CO2 and 1 x 10-3 of the CO2 is unsaturated. So 2.8 x 10-16 times 8 x 10-5 equals 2.2 x 10-20, which is the fraction warmer that the earth gets due to increases in CO2 slowing the rate of energy radiating into space.
The average wavelength for black body radiation in the atmosphere would be about 25 microns. This means 83 femto seconds per wave. There are about 12 waves per pico second. Within twelve waves or bumps, which is a pico second, the absorbed energy would be radiated into space. While the CO2 molecule is making its 12 bumps, a few surrounding molecules are also emitting the picked up energy as radiation, which means it would certainly be a completed process within a pico second.
(frequency equals velocity over wavelength. Time equals inverse of frequency) (3x108 ÷ 25x10-6 = 12x1012, inverse = 83x10-15)
Promoters of global warming do an additive analysis—adding the temperature increases resulting from added CO2. There is nothing additive about dynamic systems. They produce rates. Rate means to divide by something. There is so much energy per hour going through the atmosphere. With a CO2 increase, there is the same amount of energy per hour plus one pico second. Divide by an hour plus a pico second to change the rate. And then divide some more due to the miniscule amounts of effective CO2.
