lately i've been reading a book about the building of the atomic bomb(topic of a future thread) and it got me thinking about something that relates to this thread. and feel free to let me know where my theory falls apart, it is a work in progress.
if waves and winds are a transfer of energy through a medium in order to equalize the energy levels, wouldn't a shift in the energy balance of the planet result in higher waves and stronger winds unless the increase was evenly spread across the planet?
currently we hear lots about global warming from greenhouse gases trapping solar radiation resulting in increased heat energy, etc.
this places the blame on the pollution from burning fossil fuels and gives a free pass to nuclear. that is, the global warming is a by product of the pollution from burning the fuel. but it seems to me this is only responsible for part of the energy increase.
now, my theory.
when we burn fossil fuels, or when we cause a nuclear reaction to take place, aren't we essentially converting matter directly into energy?
wouldn't this then affect the energy balance of the planet?
with fossil fuels we would be releasing energy that was sequestered millions of years ago. with a nuke plant the energy has been in the form of matter since the begining of time.
wind power and hydro would not have this effect because they don't convert matter to energy. they only change it from one form of energy to another.
so, is global warming and increased winds an inevitable outcome from the industrial revolution and the conversion of matter into energy?
has every drop of oil burned and every atom smashed increased the overall energy level of the planet?
would we have this energy increase and the resulting global warming even if we could eliminate all pollution from the conversion process?
again, this theory just kinda popped into my head so it may be quite foolish but i'd welcome any and all opinions.
