Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: ScientificSorcerer on 08/09/2014 18:26:37

Title: Can Masers alter the wather?
Post by: ScientificSorcerer on 08/09/2014 18:26:37

                                               CAN MASERS ALTER THE WEATHER?
                                  (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fc%2Fc9%2FHydrogen_maser.gif&hash=8ecc97a8fc7ca12c3d8a7be816831fc6)

Lets say you have one big ole high powered maser and pointed it at a cloud. Clouds are basically just water vapor so a microwave should be able to heat the cloud and then what?

What would happen to a cloud if it suddenly got super hot?

Imagine what that technology could be capable of, what if it could make clouds disappear and prevent raining and flooding, or disrupt tornadoes and hurricanes.  But I don't even know if masers could remotely do these things I have mentioned, But that is why I'm asking you guys.

If you know what masers will do to clouds and the weather please tell me in the reply section below.

Title: Re: Can Masers alter the wather?
Post by: alancalverd on 08/09/2014 22:26:30

Consider a small cumulus cloud, say 100 m in each direction - the sort of "fair weather" cloud you see on a sunny summer's day. Air weighs about 1.2 kg/m^3 so this cloud weighs 1000 tonnes. of which about 10% is water. If you want to evaporate 100 tonnes of water you need to supply 2.2 MJ of energy per kilogram, i.e. 2.2 x 10^11 joules. Using a 1 megawatt maser it will take you 60 hours to disperse one tiny cloud.  Most clouds of this size disperse within an hour anyway.