-Greetings R.L.
-Here are some answers that you are looking for, I think.
-First a review from our previous posts
-The only “calculations” I remember seeing were the ones that were done from the quantities of material that I presented.

- Those quantities were many years old and incomplete even for that time period. I have looked for updated figures but without success so far. IF you have the information please let me know.

R- Your memory is selective...

J- Maybe, but your reading ability or comprehension is defective.

R- The calculations done showed that Even using your numbers the effect was negligeable By MANY orders of magnitude...

J- Two problems with your answer, first, the quantity of radioactive material that I mentioned, was only a very small amount of the total that is out there today.
I believe that I asked if anyone had updated figures, but no one responded to that question. Perhaps no one knows, or if some one does know they consider the information unimportant, or alternately they may be suppressing the information on purpose. (My conspiracy theory :-))

Second, you did not specify the quantity or level where the radioactivity in the atmosphere should be ‘neglected’ or why that should be done.

R- I believe I posted the very unrealistic calc where all that radioactive energy was depositited at once- ignoring the effect of the long halflives of these materials....

J- I remember that.

R- 1 megaton = 4,184,000,000,000,000 joules or about 4.2 *10^15 joules
Earth's radius= ~6.37*10^6m, cross-sectional area is then 1,274,114,660,000,000 m^2, or approx 1.3*10^15 m^2
Lets say the earth recieves ~ 1 kW per square meter from the sun (this IS an underestimate), then the number of joules it recieves in 1 second from the sun is ~1.3*10^18 Joules this is approximately the equivalent of 309 megatons of nuclear bombs detonating every second...

J- I’ll assume that your figures are correct.

R- In a few seconds the sun puts more energy into the earth than all of our nukes combined...

J- When you say “our nukes” do you mean the ones in the US or all nukes in all countries?

R- and that is assuming they all went fission at once...

J- I seem to remember that the USSR detonated a super bomb that was somewhere around 100 mega tons.

R-Now Johannes do you, even with your obviously limited grasp of reality think that when you factor in halflives that all of the nuclear material we have mined release even a fraction of a fraction of a percent of 309 megatons per second? Do you?

J-If you disclose the quantity of nuclear material that has been mined, perhaps I can figure out how small the percentage is.

R- We are talking about something a factor of hundreds of millions below just what the sun does...

J- And your point is? (does it have anything to do with the cup of tea I drink in the morning?)

R- Now if you want to look at the heating caused by lunar tidal friction I know that ALSO dwarfs the radioactive contribution...

J- Can you give me a comparison between the two quantities?

R- Just another set of facts you will ignore because you love your pet "nonsense" too much....

J- Nonsense, perhaps, but you (or anyone else) have not answered my simple questions which are:
WHAT IS THE QUANTITY OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL IN THE ATMOSPERE TODAY? and WHAT WAS THE QUANTITY OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL IN THE ATMOSPHERE BEFORE THE SO CALLED NUCLEAR AGE?
Is there something about the questions that you do not understand?

R- Secondly, while radioactive decay may be artificially accelerated (IE Chain reaction), it requires confinement- That does NOT occur when it is released into the atsmosphere-

J- Surely you are not suggesting that the fission effects of nuclei cease their ‘activity’ simply because they are in a less ‘confined’ area?

I agree with you that the chain reaction of the ‘fast’ (bombs) and ‘moderated’ (power reactors) need confinement for their operation, but I am quite certain that the ‘radioactivity’ of the element continues regardless of the proximity of the atoms to each other or the density of the substance that the radioactive elements reside in. (not counting neutron stars and the like)

R- If you had bothered to educate yourself you would know that- instead you post your nonsense here as fact and are too lazy to do the calculations yourself.

J- Calculations are difficult to make unless one has some numbers. IF I knew the quantity and type of radioactive material in the atmosphere, perhaps I could get a number that would represent the amount of energy that the said material is releasing every second. Then that number could be compared against the Sun’s energy per cubic meter of air.

"R.L.- Why do you think the effect of "released" radioactive materials would be any different than the effect of the materials decaying naturally in the ground? the energy is still released!

J- Yes, the energy is released in both cases but there are two major differences.
First, when the material is in its ‘natural’ state in the ground, the ‘radioactive energy’ that is released is absorbed by the surrounding mass which is dense, the resulting heat, that is caused mostly by alpha particle absorbsion, (I admit that I do not have knowledge of all the nuclear interactions that can cause heating of non-radioactive elements. Perhaps you can enlighten us on that account.) is then conducted into the surrounding mass. The heat (read as thermal energy) travels in all directions (down as well as up) and when the heat, as molecular activity or infrared radiation, reaches the atmosphere it is quite low in energy."

R.L.-So the heat never reaches the atsmosphere?

J- I did not say that, nor did I imply such a thing

R- In this case the system is a closed one...the energy must eventually distribute itself evenly... You heat up the earth then eventually it must heat up the atsmosphere...

J- According to your numbers, the Earth is a pretty big heat sink ;-)

R- But THAT doesnt support your pet theory does it?

J- It has very little to do with my ‘pet theory’. Please re-read my ‘refined’ answer above.

OK, I will explain the idea (pet theory) differently. Say that we take a number of bowling pins and throw them in the ocean. (hopefully they will float :-) Now, the waves will move all of these ‘pins’ gently up, down, and sideways according to the laws of physics. If the energy of the ‘waves’ increases, then the kinetic energy of the ‘pins’ will also increase. Now, take a ‘machine gun’ and start shooting the widely dispersed ‘pins’, you will notice that many of the ‘bullets’ will miss many of the ‘pins’, but most likely some of the ‘bullets’ will also hit some of the ‘pins’. You will notice that the ‘pins’ that are being hit, will move violently and also will have a great deal of damage to them. Similarly, infrared energy (waves) will move molecules without damaging them, and nuclear radiation (bullets) can ‘damage’ as well as increase the motion of molecules.

R- You will find the vast majority of reality doesnt.... But you dont care about reality, do you?

J- I pity the person that has no
imagination. Perhaps I care about reality more than you can imagine.

R.L. - The sodium layer that marks the Mesosphere has DROPPED in average height by ~1 kilometer in the past 30 years...

J- If you do not know the reason 'why' it has dropped, then let me explain it to you someday.

R.L. - LOL LMFAOROTFLPIMP

J- If you send me the decryption code I will understand it :-)
Does not look like compliment though.

R- Kiddo, since I am currently researching the sodium layer, and have taken pictures of it and depend on it for my current line of work, and am working on getting funding for scientific studies on it from scientific organizations,

J- All kidding aside, I truly hope that you succeed in your endeavors.

R- I am sure I will find your contributions VERY useful!

J- Is that a compliment? Are you asking for MY opinion?

Regardless;) I’ll give you a hint, look up the atomic density or weight of sodium and the other gasses in the atmosphere, then imagine what happens if the density of the atmosphere decreases.

Oops, I used the word ‘imagine’, I get the impression that you do not have that ability, in which case you must use your calculator to get to the answer.

R- You are a wannabe... nothing wrong with that, but a wannabe that cant accept it when your wrong is just a crackpot....

J- You think you are a ‘wit’, but you are only half right ;-)

Thank you for the calculations regarding the photon flux coming from the Sun. It may come in handy if I ever put up some solar panels. But it has nothing to do with the amount of radioactivity in the Earth’s atmosphere.

R- http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/9708/9708275.pdf
http://www.gemini.edu/documentation/webdocs/preprints/gpre91.pdf

J- Nice links, thanks

R- LOL I do look forward to what you can "teach" me...

J- I have come to the conclusion that no one can “teach” anything to anyone, the person must learn by themselves. All that the ‘teacher’ can do is present the information that the ‘student’ wants to learn. Some teachers give a better presentation than others, and some students can understand old or new ideas more readily than others.

R- Might I ask your qualifications?

J- I would not mind giving you my qualifications, but first, I would like to know why, how, or if, your knowledge of my qualifications will change your opinion of me?

R- Please post your calculation that shows this to be a factor...:) If you dont then you are just a crackpot too ignorant to defend your lunacy...

J- Sorry, I do not have all the needed information for doing proper calculations, that is why I am ASKING if anyone knows what the quantity of radioactive material is in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The only ‘hard’ information that I have on the subject is in the previous posts that I have made here. I found some of the old information and here is an excerpt from them.

From one location 230 tons of radioactive material has leaked into environment between the year 1959 and the year 1987. During the same period of time 337 tons of Uranium hexafluoride also escaped from various nuclear facilities
Between 1944 and 1987, 530,000 curies of radioactive Iodine has been released into the environment. Three Mile Island incident released 15 curies of radioactive Iodine.

I do not know the quantity or type of radioactive material that has been released in the many nuclear power plant ‘leaks’ in Russia or other countries in the world.

1 kg (2.2lb) of Uranium –235 releases 18.7 million kilowatt-hours of energy as heat.
Naturally occurring Uranium contains 0.71 percent -U235 remainder is -U238.
When -U238 absorbs neutrons it is changed to plutonium-239.

Global Nuclear Weapons Tests, 1945-1998

United States – 1030 +2 (815 underground)
Soviet Union- 715 (496 underground)
Britain – 45 (24 underground )
France 210 (160 underground )
China – 45 (22 Underground )
Pakistan – 2 (2 underground )
Total 1794
Underground 1519
_____
275 Total Atmospheric nuclear detonations

Source is here <a/>

There is no mention of how much radioactivity was expelled into the atmosphere from these detonations. I want to satisfy my curiosity, if I find the ‘truth’ about the subject matter then I will not be spreading rumors but only explaining the truth.This site <a/> confirms my suspicion that the Earth’s atmosphere IS escaping into space.

(I hope the links are still active.) I know that high energy radiation can break down water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Also I now know that hydrogen and oxygen are escaping through the 'polar fountain' as described in the NASA article. Putting that information together suggests that the UV and other high-energy radiation (perhaps also radioactivity) that exists in that upper area, convert the atmospheric moisture that gets into the upper atmosphere, into hydrogen and oxygen molecules or atoms. The atmospheric moisture is replaced by the evaporation of water from the surface. So, in effect the quantity of water is diminishing from the Earth. How fast that action is or how long it will take for the condition to become 'critical for life' is only a guess until some facts about the quantity of particles 'that escape' can be obtained. It may take millions of years or it may become critical within a few years. The Solar wind pounds at a regular speed of between 200 km/s and 900 km/s, but with a density of very near zero (1 to 10 protons per cubic centimeter). Without knowing the quantity of radioactive material that has come from nuclear ‘leaks’ from the various reactors (and nuclear tests) all over the world, it is difficult to know if the global loss of molecules has increased in magnitude since the invention of nuclear bombs and power reactors. No matter how “miniscule” the amount may be, it still would be interesting to know the quantity. R- I mean, surely if you advocate your position so vociferously you MUST have done the calculations yourself, and you MUST have hard numbers to back it up...right? J- I advocate my position simply because there are many ‘unusual changes’ in geophysical phenomenon that could be answered by using this ‘pet theory’, that is IF this ‘pet theory/idea’ turns out to be true. The geophysical effects that I am talking about range from ‘believable’ to almost ‘un-believable’. But before I explain how these changes relate to the radioactivity in the atmosphere, I need to ‘confirm’ that the ‘idea/theory’ is correct, and to do that I need to know the quantity of radioactivity in the Earth’s atmosphere. You should know that to do ANY calculation you need at least TWO numbers. I am still looking for the TWO quantities that will make it possible to do the calculation. You claim that you DID the calculations for me. Perhaps my computer did not display those numbers, in that case it is easy for you to answer the following two questions, the answers will satisfy me completely and we can come to an agreement on this issue. 1) What was the quantity of radioactivity in the Earth’s atmosphere before the first ‘atomic pile’ was constructed? 2) What is the quantity of radioactivity in the Earth’s atmosphere today? All I need is two numbers that represent the ‘true’ level of the atmospheric radioactivity during the mentioned two time periods. I can then take it from there. Thank you Johannes