Correcting Fundamental Mistakes in Radiation Physics Shows How the Middle Atmosphere Plays the Primary Role in Determining How Effectively Earth is Heated by Sun

The thermal and chemical structure of the middle atmosphere is determined by molecules of air absorbing high-energy, solar, ultraviolet radiation. The dominant photochemical reaction for forming th...

Current mistakes thinking about the physics of radiation 1) That electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, physically is waves, photons, or wave-particle duality.
3) That electromagnetic radiation travels through air and space as waves or photons.
No. Electromagnetic radiation, light, is well-known physically to be a very broad continuum of frequencies of oscillation ranging from very low frequency radio signals to very high frequency gamma rays.
No. Electromagnetic radiation travels through air and space as frequency by resonance, where amplitudes of oscillation at each frequency of oscillation are averaged or shared.
4) That energy of electromagnetic radiation is the same thing as intensity or brightness.
No. Energy of electromagnetic radiation (E) is well-known to equal the Planck constant (h) times frequency (ν), E=hν. Since frequency is a broad continuum, energy must be a broad continuum.
2) That frequency of electromagnetic radiation is wave frequency, i.e. the velocity of light divided by wavelength.
No. Electromagnetic radiation is a broad spectrum of frequencies of oscillation of all the bonds holding matter together.
Energy belongs on the x-axis Y-axis should be intensity, brightness, or amplitude of oscillation Energy Wm -2 Planck's law 7) That energy is additive. That flux is additive. That radiative forcings can be added together.
No. Temperatures are averative. They are averaged together. 8) That thermal energy is some unspecified generic thing that is additive (can be added together).
No. Thermal energy is the simultaneous oscillation of all bonds that hold matter together. The hotter the body of matter, the greater the amplitude of oscillation at each and every frequency and the higher the frequencies with the greatest amplitudes of oscillation.
6) Flux of electromagnetic radiation is proportional to temperature of the emitting body.
No. Flux is proportional to the difference in temperature. This is why all curves of warming or cooling approach the final temperature asymptotically.
The measured black curve is the warming caused by a picture light shining on a small black piece of metal. The calculated red curve is the temperature calculated by multiplying 4.6% times the average of the existing temperature and the ending temperature of 28 o C at each 10-second interval. The 4.6% has to do with the conductivity per second of heat into the black object and other boundary conditions.
Electromagnetic radiation is a broad continuum of frequencies of oscillation of all the bonds on the surface of matter that hold matter together. 5) That flux of electromagnetic radiation can be quantified as a single number or amount of watts per square meter.
No. Energy of electromagnetic radiation (E) equals the Planck constant (h) times frequency (ν), E=hν. Since frequency is a broad continuum, energy must a broad continuum with a different value of watts per square meter at each frequency.
Asymptotic curves of heating and cooling show flux is proportional to temperature difference Temperature is a measure of how fast atoms are moving. The higher the average velocity of the atoms, the higher the temperature.
Temperature in a gas is a measure of translational kinetic energy E=1/2mv 2 Temperature in solid matter is a measure of a broad continuum of internal oscillatory kinetic energy Oscillation of what?
Planck's empirical law describes the physical properties of temperature in solid matter as: 1. A broad spectrum or continuum of frequencies of oscillation on the lower x-axis.

A broad continuum of energies of oscillation on the upper
x-axis since energy equals frequency times a constant (E=hv).
3. Planck's empirical law then calculates a broad continuum of amplitudes or intensities of oscillation on the y-axis.
The higher the temperature, the higher the amplitudes of oscillation at each and every frequency of oscillation and the higher the frequencies with the greatest amplitudes of oscillation.
CO 2 absorbs terrestrial infrared energy into the bonds holding the molecules together. This does not change the temperature of air! Planck's empirical law O 2 absorbs ultraviolet-C into the bonds holding the molecules together, causing dissociation. The two oxygen atoms fly apart at high velocity, converting all bond energy efficiently and completely into air temperature, heating the stratosphere.
Oscillation of all bonds holding matter together.
Planck's law says for Earth to increase its temperature, it must absorb increased amplitudes of oscillation primarily at ultraviolet-B frequencies UV-C at 1237 THz dissociates oxygen

UV-B at 967 THz dissociates ozone
The highest frequencies of oscillation of solar radiation penetrating the ozone layer are some ultraviolet-B (952 to 1070 Thz), all ultraviolet-A (790 to 952 Thz), and all visible light (405 to 790 Thz).
Most frequencies of oscillation of solar radiation greater than around 1650 terahertz are absorbed in the ionosphere to create ions.
Most frequencies of oscillation of solar radiation between 1650 and 1000 terahertz are absorbed in the stratosphere to dissociate oxygen and other molecules warming the stratosphere.
Thus changes in the intensities (amplitudes of oscillation) of ultraviolet-B solar radiation reaching Earth's surface have THE primary effect on average surface temperatures.
The annual average surface temperature of Earth is determined primarily by how much ultraviolet-B solar radiation penetrates the ozone layer and reaches Earth's surface, where it dissociates ground-level ozone depletion warming air and penetrates oceans hundreds of meters, efficiently raising ocean heat content.
When solar radiation is present, the oxygen-ozone cycle continuously dissociates oxygen, heating air and then dissociates ozone, heating air. The average lifetime of an ozone molecule is only around 8.3 days.
How much solar ultraviolet-B reaches Earth is determined primarily by how much ozone depletion occurs in mid to late winter when ozone concentrations are unusually large Thus, air is warmer wherever there is more ozone.
Ozone depletion is most effective when atoms of chlorine interact on the aqueous surfaces of polar stratospheric clouds formed during the coldest periods of polar winter.
Under these conditions, one atom of chlorine can lead to the destruction of more than 100,000 molecules of ozone.
During winter, less ultraviolet-B reaches the ozone layer in polar regions so that ozone concentrations accumulate.
This is why the greatest effect of ozone depletion is observed to be an increase in winter minimum temperatures.

Ozone concentrations
Maps of ozone concentrations vary daily. Air containing ozone is warmer than surrounding air. Dobson (1929) showed that maximum positive daily deviations of ozone values from monthly means are generally found to the rear of surface low-pressure areas, while maximum negative deviations are found to the rear of surface highs. This is why warming has been twice as great in the northern hemisphere as in the southern hemisphere.
The primary way ozone depletion heats air is when increased ultraviolet-B radiation causes dissociation of ground-level ozone pollution In the late 1800s, many radiation physicists used a prism to separate the colors of visible light. They then moved a sensor through each color and measured a very small electric current that they thought of as the amount of energy. They assumed light travelled as waves and thought of frequency as wave frequency.
Planck, then, wrote his equation assuming that energy in watts per square meter was on the y-axis and that total energy could be calculated by integrating as a function of frequency.
Planck's confusion about radiant energy But to justify his equation, Planck postulated that radiant energy (E) equals the Planck constant (h) times frequency (v). But he never stopped to think if E=hv, energy must be plotted on an alternative x-axis, parallel to frequency and the y-axis must be intensity or brightness.

Planck's empirical law
Planck's empirical law Planck also never stopped to think that it makes no sense to integrate as a function of frequency because, for light, all frequencies coexist in air and space. It makes no physical sense to add them together.
Primary role of the middle atmosphere in determining global temperatures Stratopause Tropopause A decrease in yearly total column ozone at mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere by 30 Dobson Units (DU) corresponds to a 0.9 o C increase in temperature anomaly in the northern hemisphere based on HadCRUT4. Numbers are the years observations were made at Arosa Switzerland.

Ward 2016
The stratosphere, absorbing solar ultraviolet C and B, forms an "electric blanket" around Earth, raising the temperature of the stratopause 30 to 35 degrees Celsius above the temperature of the tropopause. "Electric blanket in the sense that the thermal energy comes from a distant source, Sun, not from the body under the blanket, Earth.