Petagrams of Carbon

Sometimes carbon dioxide is referenced in units of ppm, and sometimes it is referenced in petagrams of carbon.  What are the meanings of these units and how does one convert between them?

In a previous post I explained how to convert to and from units of ppm.  The current post explains the units petagrams of carbon, and how to convert from ppm to petagrams of carbon.

Fixing Norton Ghost

If you are running Symantec's Norton Ghost to backup a computer, you may occasionally run into the following helpful error:

"An interaction with the catalog's database layer failed unexpectedly: sqlite3_step--5: database is locked."

Surprisingly, the Norton online help is no use at all.  This problem, however is not difficult to fix.  As I have had this same issue with multiple versions of Ghost and also it seems to occur on multiple operating systems, the solution is probably not exclusive to my environment.  However, I am running Vista 64 bit and Norton Ghost 14.

The Second Law, Radiative Transfer, and Global Warming

This post is part of a series, Nonsense and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The previous post is entitled Spontaneous Change and Equilibrium.

Does global warming violate the second law of thermodynamics?  Such a claim may seem strange.  The idea that the vast majority of physical scientists would subscribe to an idea that somehow violates a fundamental law of thermodynamics on its face seems odd.  Yet, such a claim is often made by people calling the science behind global warming into question.

Patanol vs Alaway (Ketotifen Fumarate) Eye Drops

In July of 2010, I wrote a piece on my experience with Medco getting my prescription for Patanol filled. The medication is a prescription antihistamine that is administered by drops to the eye.  It is prescribed for hay fever and similar allergies that cause itchy eyes.

Spontaneous Change and Equilibrium

This post is part of a series, Nonsense and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The previous post is entitled Free Energy.

Diamond turns spontaneously into graphite; yet we may have to wait longer than the lifetime of the universe to see such a change.  Hydrocarbons are spontaneously oxidized into carbon dioxide and water; yet gasoline requires a source of heat before it burns.

The Holocaust History Project: Pamphlet on David Irving

The Holocaust History Project Blog of The Holocaust History Project has announced an updated pamphlet on Holocaust denier David Irving.

The British court found that Irving's

misrepresentation of history was

"deliberate in the sense that he was motivated by a

desire borne of his own ideological beliefs to

present Hitler in a favourable light."

Free Energy

This post is part of a series,Nonsense and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The previous post is entitled Entropy as Religious, Spiritual or Self-Help Metaphor.

You cannot get something for nothing, and the term "free energy" does not mean energy that has no cost.  Rather it refers to energy that is available to do something useful.  The use of the word "free" is in the sense of "liberated."  Free energy is energy that can be liberated to do something useful.

We know that the second law places limitations on how much energy can be used to do useful work.  In most situations, some of the energy must be dissipated as heat that cannot be used to do something useful.  The portion of the energy that can do something useful is the free energy.

At constant volume, the free energy is the Helmholtz Free Energy, given the variable A.