I can imagine a lot of people have been wishing for less snow lately. The desire to control the weather is not new; in fact it is ancient. Rain dances have long been used in cultures around the world. Various deities have been deemed responsible for weather. Praying or sacrificing to these gods were ways of trying to influence the forces of nature. To this day, we are still trying to gain power over the elements.
The most common way of purposely affecting the weather is cloud seeding, or enhancing water droplet formation. Various materials, such as silver iodide, are dispersed into the atmosphere and cause water vapor to collect and form water droplets. If there is enough water vapor present, then rain should soon occur. The effectiveness of this technique, however, is not always accepted. Other ways of impacting weather have been devised, but many people are skeptical of them. Perhaps with today's advanced weather monitoring technologies we will soon be able to definitively test methods of weather control. If we can observe a phenomenon more precisely, then we should more clearly see any effects our actions have on it.
Is it a good idea to govern our atmospheric conditions—disrupting nature's harmony? If one town forces rain to fall, then the next town will be deprived. A hurricane that is steered away from one coastline will probably devastate another. In the wrong hands, these capabilities could be far more destructive than life-saving. This prospect has been seriously considered enough to be illegalized. Do we really want the power to direct the paths of storms?
No comments:
Post a Comment