Touch a fluorescent light bulb. It may feel pleasantly warm, but it will not feel extremely hot. However, the gas inside a working fluorescent bulb is usually at a temperature of more than 10,000œ Kelvin.

For comparison, the Sun's surface temperature is 5,800œ Kelvin. If the gas inside a fluorescent light bulb is at such a high temperature, why is the surface of the bulb relatively cool? (Axelrod, 2004)

The key is heat content. The gas inside the bulb is at a high temperature, but, because the gas is so thin and there are relatively few gas atoms inside the bulb, relatively little total heat energy is contained within the gas. Heat content is the total thermal energy an object contains. The gas inside the bulb has a high temperature but a low heat content, so there is not enough thermal energy to burn one's hand (Botterill, 2003). A key related concept is heat capacity, which is the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of an object. The gas in a fluorescent bulb has a low heat capacity, so the total amount of thermal energy needed to raise its temperature is small. Thus, it required relatively little heat energy to raise the temperature of the gas, which also contributes to explaining why the system contains relatively little energy.

The total heat content of Earth's climate system, including its atmosphere, oceans, and surface, can change through a variety of processes. For example, the amount of direct solar radiation striking Earth's surface can change, either by the Sun's energy output changing or by the atmosphere's transparency changing. Changes in the concentration of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere change the amount of thermal energy trapped within the atmosphere rather than radiated back into space. Industrial processes and waste heat from all types of engines pump thermal energy into Earth's climate system. These and many other processes change the total heat content of the planetary climate system. As this total heat content changes, Earth's average temperature changes. Predictions of changes in Earth's temperature depend upon knowledge of the planet's current total heat content, as well as of all processes affecting Earth's climate system. Such comprehensive knowledge is elusive, so predicting future temperature changes is extremely difficult, and vastly divergent predictions are common.

References

1. Axelrod, Regina S., David Leonard Downie, and Norman J. Vig, eds. The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2004.

2. Botterill, Linda C., and Melanie Fisher, eds. Beyond Drought: People, Policy, and Perspectives. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO, 2003.

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