Re: The dinosaurs did not die in fire, from the latest Geology

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Mike Taylor wrote:
> > Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 09:57:23 -0800
> > From: "James R. Cunningham" <jrccea@bellsouth.net>
> > 
> > An intriguing abstract.  I seem to remember an estimate of something
> > like 70 billion tons of soot contained in the boundary layer.  If my
> > memory is correct, it's an inconsequential amount at best.
> 
> Inconsequential?  Really?  70 billion (metric) tons of soot is
> 70000000000000kg.  The diameter of the Earth is about 12750km, which
> yields a total surface area of
>       4*pi*r^2 
>       = 4 * 3.142 * 6375000^2
>       = 510771375000000 m^2
> That gives 70000000000000/510771375000000 = 0.137kg of soot per m^2,
> or 137g -- about five ounces.  I wouldn't call that inconsequential to
> me.  As an experiment, sprinkle five ounces of soot on one square
> metre of your living-roomn carpet.  Let me know how it goes :-)

Well, yeah, that's *today*. Sixty mya they didn't have spouses...