Thread: chemtrails
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Old June 9th 06, 06:20 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Default chemtrails - sorry to burst your bubble

Contrails, Chemtrails explained by condensation

May 19, 2006

Since the skies have been mostly sunny over the last couple weeks, I
thought I'd share an e-mail from a reader who wondered about the
"mostly" part of it. Although I almost hate to do it.

Tim writes, "I woke up this morning with nothing but clear skies and
now all day long there were planes that were flying together spraying a
white substance out of the back that is definitely not water
condensation trails. These trails have lingered around all day and made
a haze in the sky, and lately more and more I have seen these and I
thought I would like your opinion." First of all, Tim didn't explain
why he thinks they were "definitely not water condensation trails,"
because I think that's exactly what they were. If it looks like a duck,
acts like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. The same
goes for clouds, and contrails are just clouds. But I think where he
was trying to get me to go was in the direction of "chemtrails."
Chemtrails. Why did I open that can of worms?

Before I start in on this, let me say that I love a good conspiracy
theory as well as the next guy. But I also like good science. And there
is just something about looking up at the sky and seeing "jets spraying
a milky white chemical into the sky" that is irresistible to conspiracy
theorists everywhere. Now having said that, please don't inundate me
with e-mails and letters, complete with pictures, diagrams and links to
web sites in an attempt to "open my eyes to the truth" about
chemtrails. Every picture of a "chemtrail" I have seen turns out to be
a nice picture of a contrail.

Clouds are fascinating objects. For one thing; one person will view the
ever-changing shapes and colors and see the government poisoning the
atmosphere, while others will see a horsey and a duckie.

When the subject of chemtrails comes up, many who believe that it is
something more than just contrails point to all kinds of evidence to
suggest it is anything from governmental weather modification to
controlling population. But most of their issues stem from an ignorance
of cloud physics. Some wonder why on one clear day, the skies are
crisscrossed with contrails, while on the next they are almost
non-existent. The difference is how much humidity is in the air up at
jet level.

While clouds can form when the air is saturated with water vapor, they
don't have to. Sometimes the air can get super-saturated, but if there
isn't a nucleation site upon which the water vapor can condense, then
the skies can still be clear. If you send a jet through this air,
depositing exhaust, a thick contrail can form and stay up there all day
in a saturated environment. If the air is drier a contrail can form,
but it evaporates and disappears almost immediately. That's why some
"clear" days stay clear, and others get muddied up with a tapestry of
contrails.

Space doesn't allow me to go into all the explanations for "weird
contrail" formation, but I have never received a picture of one that
couldn't be explained by perfectly natural atmospheric conditions"»
and I've seen an awful lot of them.

So please don't feel led to send me any more.

"Catch Mike Alger's forecast on KTVN Channel 2 News at 5, 5:30, 6:30
and 11 p.m. Monday through Friday. Ask Mike a question at
."