Friday, March 16, 2007

Looks like I am going to have to try again....

If 75 percent of the world polar ice caps are all ready in the water (ice shelves, glaciers etc.) Why would the water level go up if they melt? I was watching the ice in my cup melt and thought wait melting ice doesn't raise the water level wtf and suddenly realized my blanket plan to hold the world hostage is not going to work....

Oh well back to the drawing board

6 comments:

Rocketstar said...

Water expands as it freezes, so the level in your glass will actually go down as the ice melts.

The point with the ice they speak of in the global warming debate is sticking OUT OF THE WATER, it is not in the water, thus the level of the water will rise.

So your balnket plan is still ok.

Brianinmpls said...

but even if it is sticking out of the water if the majority of it is floating then it buoyancy is already accounted for in the level of the ocean right?

Sarah said...

water at 4 degrees F is more dense than at any other temp, higher or lower [i.e. ice].

Rocketstar said...

yes, but you have to remember that there is land underneath the South Pole, but not the North Pole.

Also, it depends if the amount of water the floating ice displaces is equal to, greater than or less than the frozen ice above it.

That's a great physics question, one that I am not equipped to answer.

Anonymous said...

I'm no scientist, but I think that the glaciers are muuuuuuch larger than your tiny little ice cubes and with that said surely the melting of something vastly larger would cause problems - I think your plan would still work Brian - that is if they don't lock you up in the looney bin for threatening us all with that first - haha!

dawnmarie said...

I think the big issue with the polar ice caps is something to do with currents and weather. Global warming will actually cause horrific cold in the northern hemisphere or something like that.