Swiss Researchers Try to Make it Rain With Lasers

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Swiss Researchers Try to Make it Rain With Lasers

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 31, 2011 @09:47PM from the rain-makers dept.

formaggio writes "Last year a team of researchers at Switzerland's University of Geneva had come up with an interesting way of making it rain– by shooting lasers high up into the sky. At the time it seemed like science fiction, but now they are one step closer after the team successfully finished tests around Lake Geneva. From the article: 'Records from 133 hours of firings revealed that intense pulses of laser light created nitric acid particles in the air that behaved like atmospheric glue, binding water molecules together into droplets and preventing them from re-evaporating. Within seconds, these grew into stable drops a few thousandths of a millimeter in diameter: too small to fall as rain, but large enough to encourage the scientists to press on with the work.'"

139 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Make it rain... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 21:51 · Score: 5, Funny

While they weren't able to make rain fall they did make 34 pigeons, 12 sparrows, 334 bees and 1 hanglider fall from the sky...
1. Re:Make it rain... by Joce640k · 2011-08-31 22:28 · Score: 2
  
  ...and a whole lot of nitric acid.
  
  --
  No sig today...
2. Re:Make it rain... by craigminah · 2011-09-01 00:26 · Score: 0
  
  Obama will only use the "laser" for evil if polls show it would be favorable to his reelection campaign which he started in 2008. OTOH, once we start altering the climate we'll everything up and force rain to fall where the money is or where it's politcally beneficial for the rain to fall. Best this never works.
3. Re:Make it rain... by RNLockwood · 2011-09-01 01:18 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, and the people who were near the where the lasers impacted the earth at the end of their ballistic trajectory were not amused.
  
  --
  Nate
4. Re:Make it rain... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 02:07 · Score: 0
  
  Holy Butthurt, Batman. You're most likely a racist too.
5. Re:Make it rain... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 02:30 · Score: 0
  
  Holy Butthurt, Batman. You're most likely a racist too.
  Who says this guy commenting wasn't black?
6. Re:Make it rain... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 02:58 · Score: 0
  
  Then he's racist against Obama's white half. This pres can call anyone racist!
7. Re:Make it rain... by LifesABeach · 2011-09-01 03:45 · Score: 1
  
  I think some of the Poor of Texas would be very grateful for this technology. And Texas Governor Mrs. dick Parry wouldn't have to renounce his failed business model of handling the Texas state economy by stealing from the poor. But I think that a NOTAM: should be communicated to Texas Hang Glider Pilots.
8. Re:Make it rain... by craigminah · 2011-09-01 06:40 · Score: 0
  
  Funny, Texas is a state historically run by a Republican governor and it's economy has thrived while California, a Democratic state, has languished. Let's attack Rick Perry because that makes perfect sense. How about you stop regurgitating Democratic talking points and think for yourself, we'd all appreciate it.
9. Re:Make it rain... by geoskd · 2011-09-01 08:21 · Score: 1
  
  While they weren't able to make rain fall they did make 34 pigeons, 12 sparrows, 334 bees and 1 hanglider fall from the sky...
  I've said it before and I'll say it again...
  
  Stop trying to solve engineering problems with frickin' laser beams.
  
  -=Geoskd
  
  --
  I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
10. Re:Make it rain... by LifesABeach · 2011-09-01 08:31 · Score: 1
  
  I'm repeating Governor Mrs. dick Parry's words. Smart of the Governor, tell the fine people of Texas that the extra dollar on their taxes is for helping the poor get electricity during heat waves, THEN take that money and use it to prop up a failed business model he tells the rest of us Republicans is a booming economy. Funny, in Valera Texas, we have a phrase for that, It rhymes with "Some 'ol Boy". Maybe this proud Governor could go hunting with dick Cheney, another fine example. Oops, sorry, I forgot to say, "All Hail Haliburton", sorry mrs. x V.P..
what could go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 21:53 · Score: 0

Nothing can go wrong, of course
1. Re:what could go wrong? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2011-08-31 22:02 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  As long as you aren't doing it in any flight paths, you are probably not going to cause any immediate damage...
  
  The real giggles, with the eventual success of any of these cloud-seeding projects, will be political(probably with a side of Aral-sea style ecological fuck-uppery in places where people don't care very much):
  
  As with rivers that flow across political boundaries(a source of endless contention over water rights, complaints by team downstream that team upstream is taking too much water out and/or dumping too much shit in, etc.), air currents carrying enough water vapor to be even theoretically 'seed-able' are a finite resource. Rain that falls in one location won't be available to fall in another one. Historically, there hasn't been all that much fighting(either the legal flavor, or the literal flavor) about it, because rainfall was pretty much just a function of geography, climate, and luck.
  
  Should it become possible to 'pump' a cloud with some comparatively inexpensive apparatus(whether it be this laser widget or some other thing), reliable air currents flowing from regions of evaporation will become a new flavor of 'river', suddenly subject to rivalrous use, and the rivalries that stem from it. Happy times!
2. Re:what could go wrong? by Grizzley9 · 2011-09-01 01:35 · Score: 1
  
  Should it become possible to 'pump' a cloud with some comparatively inexpensive apparatus(whether it be this laser widget or some other thing), reliable air currents flowing from regions of evaporation will become a new flavor of 'river', suddenly subject to rivalrous use, and the rivalries that stem from it. Happy times!
  I believe it already is possible, at least partially (seems the jury is still out on effectiveness). Using lasers is just another way to do it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding
3. Re:what could go wrong? by neokushan · 2011-09-01 02:21 · Score: 1
  
  Indeed, let's stifle progress based on what COULD go wrong.
  
  --
  +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
4. Re:what could go wrong? by TapeCutter · 2011-09-01 03:14 · Score: 2
  
  I don't understand how cloud seeding can possibly be effective. It seems hard to believe that the air above dry places becomes supersaturated because it doesn't have enough dust in the air to act as condensation nuclei. Besides, a cloud is already a bunch of droplets that have formed around condensation nuclei. These droplets then sink to an altitude below the dew point and then simply evaporate again (forming the base of the cloud). So how can cloud seeding overcome the altitude of the dew point?
  
  Yes, I realise that vertical winds and the size of ice crystals complicates things but I still can't see artificial cloud seeding as having a significant effect on rainfall.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
5. Re:what could go wrong? by mikael · 2011-09-01 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  It gets the droplets large enough and heavy enough to start falling and reach the ground before evaporating.
  But that doesn't solve the fundamental atmospherics of these latitudes.
  Problem with these dry areas isn't that they don't get enough rain during the day, it's the fact the cold dry air falling from high altitudes night desiccates the moisture and dust from the surface.
  Places like the Sahara desert are right on the boundary of two Hadley cells where the night-time temperatures go below zero.
  
  --
  Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
6. Re:what could go wrong? by AmiMoJo · 2011-09-01 10:43 · Score: 1
  
  I don't understand how cloud seeding can possibly be effective.
  Ah, if only you had stopped there. But no, you had to give us your own take on something you just said you don't understand, and which lots of people who spend their lives studying it seem to think has some merit.
  I'm sure you are right, this is just a bunch of idiots firing lasers up in the sky. If only they had asked you first.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
7. Re:what could go wrong? by TapeCutter · 2011-09-01 10:49 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, and you're a mind reader who knows what I'm thinking, fuck off troll.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 21:55 · Score: 2, Insightful

If only there were a way to divert all the clouds from the places that get too much rainfall and flooding, and have them all over the Sahara, as well as the Arabian peninsula. Would make that entire continent more agriculture rich, and solve food distribution issues in the region. While at the same time, giving the heavily rained on regions some respite!
1. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 21:58 · Score: 0, Offtopic
  
  Also, flying ponies and pink unicorns.
2. Re:Flood the Sahara by Rakshasa-sensei · 2011-08-31 22:11 · Score: 1
  
  What they should build are vast farms of passive air condensers, much cheaper and have low maintenance requirement. Start by building them west coast of Sahara and move inland.
3. Re:Flood the Sahara by tokul · 2011-08-31 22:33 · Score: 1
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination
  And stop solving food distribution issues by draining Chad or Aral Sea
4. Re:Flood the Sahara by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2011-08-31 22:36 · Score: 2
  
  But we'll need droids who can speak their binary language...
5. Re:Flood the Sahara by AHuxley · 2011-08-31 22:49 · Score: 1
  
  They are working on it http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1343470/Have-scientists-discovered-create-downpours-desert.html
  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110118-abu-dhabi-desert-rain-cloud-seeding-controversy/
  
  --
  Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
6. Re:Flood the Sahara by Xest · 2011-08-31 23:10 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yes, then that way the dust that blows across the Atlantic from the Sahara to fertilize the Amazon can stop, and whilst Africa becomes a luscious new area of growth the whole of the Amazon can just die off.
  Really, fucking around with things that can have such a massive, potentially unknown effect elsewhere isn't a smart idea at all because you can just end up making things worse.
  Other parts of the world depend on the Sahara being like the Sahara is, so if you change the Sahara, you change those other parts of the world. In boosting food supplies in Africa you damage the food supplies in say South America, and create a problem there instead.
7. Re:Flood the Sahara by smpoole7 · 2011-08-31 23:36 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  > Other parts of the world depend on the Sahara ...
  Yep. I've got hurricanes on the mind lately, so here's just one example that might not immediately occur to more normal people (I'm definitely abnormal): sometimes, you'll have a storm brewing in the Atlantic, but intensity will be inhibited by dry Saharan air mixing into the core. If you remove that dry air, we might have stronger hurricanes.
  Of course, then someone will decide to blow lasers or set off nukes in the storm to compensate. What could POSSIBLY go wrong then? :)
  
  --
  Cogito, igitur comedam pizza.
8. Re:Flood the Sahara by jhoegl · 2011-08-31 23:44 · Score: 1
  
  The question is, how many languages can you have with binary based languages?
9. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 00:01 · Score: 0
  
  If only there were a way to divert all the clouds from the places that get too much rainfall and flooding, and have them all over the Sahara, as well as the Arabian peninsula. Would make that entire continent more agriculture rich, and solve food distribution issues in the region. While at the same time, giving the heavily rained on regions some respite!
  Excellent plan! Lets destroy two well established ecosystems at once to make life more comfortable for the humans who want to live there.
  If only there was a way to do it, eh?
10. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 00:06 · Score: 0
  
  infinitely many
11. Re:Flood the Sahara by MightyYar · 2011-09-01 00:08 · Score: 1
  
  In boosting food supplies in Africa you damage the food supplies in say South America, and create a problem there instead.
  Which might bother the Africans if they weren't largely subsistence farmers.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
12. Re:Flood the Sahara by shortscruffydave · 2011-09-01 01:13 · Score: 1
  
  I think you'd need more than water...you need neutrients as well. The reason that agriculture flourished along the banks of the Nile while all around was desert was thanks only in part to the water - it also owed a lot to the soil and neutrients that got washed downriver in the annual floodwaters as well. Water != agricultural viability
13. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  All of them.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine
14. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 01:25 · Score: 0
  
  Quite a lot.
15. Re:Flood the Sahara by Marc+Madness · 2011-09-01 02:09 · Score: 1
  
  "Passive air condensers? Sir, my first job was programing binary load lifters very similar to your vaporators in most respects.”
16. Re:Flood the Sahara by agent_blue · 2011-09-01 02:10 · Score: 1
  
  10
17. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 02:16 · Score: 0
  
  Really, fucking around with things that can have such a massive, potentially unknown effect elsewhere isn't a smart idea at all because you can just end up making things worse. .
  I thought we had an agreement, you don't touch my software and I won't touch yours.
18. Re:Flood the Sahara by afidel · 2011-09-01 02:28 · Score: 1
  
  The Amazon was just fine from 10,000BC to 5,500BC while the area currently part of the Sahara ranged from lush to semi-arid.
  
  --
  There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
19. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 02:40 · Score: 0
  
  Well, how can I put this...
  I have a very, but very serious doubt that that plan will work at the first place.
  Try to sleep a night in a desert (the hot ones) with shorts and a t-shirt and you will find yourself frozen in a couple hours, so the desert and everything in it is already a condenser. You can put as many condensers as you want, there is almost none water in the air to start.
20. Re:Flood the Sahara by weeboo0104 · 2011-09-01 02:42 · Score: 1
  
  The question is, how many languages can you have with binary based languages?
  How about 10?
  
  --
  It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
21. Re:Flood the Sahara by Xest · 2011-09-01 03:23 · Score: 2
  
  It depends what you mean by "just fine".
  Certainly it wasn't the same ecosystem it is now, and certainly removing fertilization from the sahara would decrease south american biomass and reduce biodiversity.
  If you mean it'd still have some green stuff there then yes, you're probably right, but how much, and how diverse would be the fundamental problem. Would biomass increase in Africa occur quickly enough to deal with the resultant decrease in South America, and hence the potential imbalances in CO2 capture, storage, and release? That's anyones guess. It's too complex a system to play around with without risking massively dangerous side effects far more damaging than the current situation of overpopulation relative to the resources to support the population in Africa.
22. Re:Flood the Sahara by LifesABeach · 2011-09-01 04:49 · Score: 1
  
  This problem was already discussed in the early 1970's by a very naive college student to the college age descendents of the various OPEC ministers. The "solution" is simple. Have the various OPEC countries place Desalination plants along their respective cost lines. The fresh water the population doesn't use, then pump that water out into various parts of the deserts. Their reply was, "how does one pump the water?", my reply,(at the time), "use the same motors that Tankers use as pumps, because these engines burn oil". Then the group voiced, "pipes are expensive.", my reply was, "use canals, and tunnels; just like Mesopotamians did. Only get some local civil engineers involved so as not to accidentally kill the canalers, masons, and tunnelers. Then the group said, "ok, the water is pumped into various areas, then what?", my reply was, "sell umbrellas, because when the water evaporates in that dusty area, you're gonna get rain." Their reply was, "but the government will have soldiers come and destroy the work," my reply was, "Your countries have laws, become lawyers, and use the law to champion your cause." Their reply was, "Then we, and our families will be killed," my reply was, "then join the government and change it from inside." All of us laughed, and it was my turn to buy the next round.
  
  The only thing I'd change in my old argument, is to use Solar driven Pumps, and build more Desalination plants. Because once, the Shara was a fertile plane of grasses, while Europe was in an Ice Age.
23. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 04:55 · Score: 0
  
  Most of Amazon's humidity comes from the Atlantic Ocean, not from Africa. And most people living there would thank you if you did rain less.
  But I agree with your point... messing with large-scale weather is plain stupid.
24. Re:Flood the Sahara by catmistake · 2011-09-01 06:13 · Score: 1
  
  Other parts of the world depend on the Sahara being like the Sahara is, so if you change the Sahara, you change those other parts of the world.
  And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake ... I... drink... your... milkshake! I drink it up!
  
  --
  The Admin and the Engineer
25. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 06:25 · Score: 0
  
  Bless the Maker and all His Water. Bless the coming and going of Him, May His passing cleanse the world. May He keep the world for his people.
  Fremen saying
26. Re:Flood the Sahara by Xest · 2011-09-01 08:11 · Score: 1
  
  Not sure if you misread my comment, it wasn't humidity I was talking about, it was the dust from the Sahara which acts as fertilizer for places like the Amazon. If you make Africa green that dust will not be so easily able to blow free. Whilst it's likely the loss of that fertilizing dust from the Sahara wouldn't kill plantlife in the Amazon it would at least cripple growth somewhat- there would be a much larger pressure on plantlife to fight over nutrients such that many species of plant less strong would likely lose out in that battle and become extinct, resulting also in less overall biomass.
27. Re:Flood the Sahara by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 01:00 · Score: 0
  
  yeah, well, arkansasrainmaker.blogspot.com
WHA ?? NO SHARKS ?? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 21:55 · Score: 1

Stupid swiss should better stick to making chocolate !!
That's why it rained so much!!! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 22:00 · Score: 0

F*ck... that's why we had so much rain these last past days/weeks!
Butterfly effect!
Been done by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 22:01 · Score: 0

Kate Bush did Cloudbusting in the 80s.
Next up: making it STOP raining! by FTWinston · 2011-08-31 22:06 · Score: 1

Surely we can build a device to target individual raindrops and evaporate them with a laser? They can already do it with mortars, afaik. Perhaps I should petition the government for funding - think of the boost to Scottish tourism if the weather here was predictable more than 5 minutes in advance!
1. Re:Next up: making it STOP raining! by jovius · 2011-08-31 22:36 · Score: 1
  
  Solution as clear as the sky: Attach a propel to the LHC.
2. Re:Next up: making it STOP raining! by FTWinston · 2011-08-31 22:41 · Score: 1
  
  That wouldn't be very healthy for anyone flying over central Europe. Or their aircraft, for that matter!
3. Re:Next up: making it STOP raining! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2011-08-31 22:44 · Score: 1
  
  Probably easier and cheaper to scrub the clouds upwind of where you don't want the rain, rather than try to re-evaporate individual raindrops over the area...
4. Re:Next up: making it STOP raining! by __aardcx5948 · 2011-08-31 23:30 · Score: 0
  
  Indeed! But don't call me Shirley.
New Age by jlebrech · 2011-08-31 22:07 · Score: 1

And they will call this the Laser Age!
1. Re:New Age by chromas · 2011-08-31 22:37 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The age of lasers seeding torrents in the Cloud.
2. Re:New Age by AHuxley · 2011-08-31 22:57 · Score: 2
  
  Its called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program
  The in 1980's origins http://www.eastlundscience.com/HAARP.html
  by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Eastlund
  The DoD presentations http://www.eastlundscience.com/HAARPROOTS.html
  The early ideas http://www.eastlundscience.com/HAARPROADMAP.html
  The U. S. Patent 4,712,155 http://www.eastlundscience.com/HAARPWEATHER.html
  
  --
  Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
3. Re:New Age by Sockatume · 2011-09-01 01:21 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not convinced that Eastlund's account is all that credible. That he took his presented about applying microwave technology to the military is undeniable, but the connection to HAARP amounts to "I had these ideas, I think HAARP is somehow doing them".
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
4. Re:New Age by AHuxley · 2011-09-01 02:18 · Score: 1
  
  The trails cold, the tech seems to have been sold and may have been bought out a few times.
  Someone has a nice tight budget, lots of electrical power, toys and land.
  
  --
  Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
5. Re:New Age by GameboyRMH · 2011-09-01 03:46 · Score: 1
  
  This gave me an image in my head similar to Travolta's famous dance scene in Saturday Night Fever, but it was a guy in a laser suit (suit that emits lasers in all directions) breakdancing in the middle of the room to electro music with lasers going everywhere like an epileptic's worst nightmare. Also everybody was wearing Daft Punk-style helmets (which makes sense now that I think about it, you'd need to shield your eyes from the lasers).
  LASER AGE! pewpewpew!
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Now the sharks will flood the earth... by moenoel · 2011-08-31 22:09 · Score: 2

... with their head mounted lasers. The horror.
Is this safe? by aglider · 2011-08-31 22:14 · Score: 1

Nitric acid raining from the sky sounds no good at all to me.
But maybe I'm not so good at science to understand the pros of such a rain.

--
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
1. Re:Is this safe? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2011-08-31 22:53 · Score: 1
  
  Depends on how much they end up generating... Nitric acid isn't especially stable at even modest temperatures, and exposure to sunlight doesn't help its stability any, so you could get away with generating modest quantities; but it doesn't take all that much pH depression before exterior stonework and/or trees start whining.
2. Re:Is this safe? by Sockatume · 2011-08-31 23:25 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Compounds like nitric acid act as nucleation sites for rain already. It'd be no more acidic than natural precipitation.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
3. Re:Is this safe? by aglider · 2011-09-01 01:49 · Score: 1
  
  There will definitely be more nitric acid than natural. They are pushing hard to increase it above the natural concentration.
  
  --
  Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
4. Re:Is this safe? by Sockatume · 2011-09-01 02:02 · Score: 2
  
  Right, you still have to deal with dicking with the nitrogen cycle, but at least the pH of the rain will be normal.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
We won't like it by roman_mir · 2011-08-31 22:14 · Score: 1

We won't like it when it's going to rain sharks all of a sudden!

--
You can't handle the truth.
Great! by foobsr · 2011-08-31 22:16 · Score: 1

Presumably they were testing the equipment in Europe this year, thus summer failed to happen.
CC.

--
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
1. Re:Great! by Pieroxy · 2011-08-31 23:46 · Score: 1
  
  Presumably they were testing the equipment in Europe this year, thus summer failed to happen.
  It sure happened! it was the 17th of August.
  
  --
  Write boring code, not shiny code!
That's good by JockTroll · 2011-08-31 22:19 · Score: 2

Doctor Frankenstein was from Geneva. Nothing like his descendants firing lasers into thunderclouds. Now witness the firepower of this FULLY ARMED and OPERATIONAL battlestation!

--
Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning.
1. Re:That's good by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 02:37 · Score: 0
  
  Man, you're posting a new thread instead of replying to someone? I guess you're trying to gather more karma for your future personal attacks.
2. Re:That's good by Dethpickle · 2011-09-01 06:12 · Score: 1
  
  Oh, I'm pretty sure Destro isn't a descendent of Frankenstein. This is totally old news though. I'm pretty sure Breaker knocked out the Weather Dominator and this shouldn't be a problem anymore. http://www.joeheadquarters.com/joeii.shtml
But wait... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 22:22 · Score: 0

I'm pretty sure lasers can already make it rain for Metallica!
Not much luck with the rain by will_die · 2011-08-31 22:26 · Score: 2

but I hear they have made a nice CH engraved in the moon.
1. Re:Not much luck with the rain by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 00:51 · Score: 0
  
  Thrakazog! Thrakazog, with a 'k'!
2. Re:Not much luck with the rain by Culture20 · 2011-09-01 03:10 · Score: 1
  
  Susan
3. Re:Not much luck with the rain by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-02 09:17 · Score: 0
  
  but I hear they have made a nice CH engraved in the moon.
  YESSSS!!! 3 THE TICK!!
Let's make it snow! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 22:46 · Score: 0

Let's make it snow with nuclear weaponry - a bit of radiation doesn't hurt anyone!
HAARP project by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 22:52 · Score: 0

No comparison with HAARP project? This one looks more efficient to generate storm/rain!
1. Re:HAARP project by Sockatume · 2011-08-31 23:03 · Score: 1
  
  Right. Given that HAARP has nothing to do with weather control, nobody has made that comparison.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
More rain in Geneva??? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 22:53 · Score: 0

guys we have enough rain in geneva. aim your lasers somewhere else please!
cosmic rays from the sun by FudRucker · 2011-08-31 23:10 · Score: 0, Troll

there is a theory that is backed up by research by scientists at CERN that cosmic rays from the sun help in promoting the formation of clouds, the scientists at CERN is not offering much press on this because of the climate-change/global-warming religion that is so firmly entrenched in mainstream media and liberally biased US colleges...

--
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
1. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by Sockatume · 2011-08-31 23:24 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Wrong.
  Your version of the story is not getting much press because it's not true.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
2. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by FudRucker · 2011-08-31 23:58 · Score: 0
  
  Discover Magazine is wrong, they are about as scientific as the History Channel and their Ancient Aliens and cryptozoology TV shows, = its all pseudoscience...
  
  --
  Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
3. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by Sockatume · 2011-09-01 00:28 · Score: 1
  
  You might want to read the quotes from the actual research cited there. And I won't hear a thing said against Philip Plait.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
4. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 00:50 · Score: 1
  
  Interesting. After some searching.
  http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/24/breaking-news-cern-experiment-confirms-cosmic-rays-influence-climate-change/
  http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/25/some-reactions-to-the-cloud-experiment/
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD
  I hadn't heard about this.
5. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 01:16 · Score: 0
  
  "Discover Magazine is wrong, they are about as scientific as the History Channel and their Ancient Aliens and cryptozoology TV shows, = its all pseudoscience..."
  Cute, but Discovery Magazine is not a TV show, and the article quotes from the original research paper:
  "However, even with the large enhancements in rate due to ammonia and ions, atmospheric concentrations of ammonia and sulphuric acid [i.e. aerosols] are insufficient to account for observed boundary-layer nucleation."
  In other words: to small an effect to account for cloud formation by cosmic rays.
6. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 01:30 · Score: 0
  
  Mr. Rucker (har) may also want to read the actual paper in Nature. You'll need to view it through a library that has a subscription, though. The citation is:
  Kirby, J. et al. 2011. Role of sulphuric acid, ammonia and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation, Nature 476, 429–433 (25 August 2011)
  It is strange that the "climate-change/global-warming religion" didn't prevent its publication. I also don't see much evidence that "CERN is not offering much press on this", given that the paper is in Nature, a rather well-known scientific journal, and CERN itself has a press release about it, where this statement is made:
  "The CLOUD results show that a few kilometres up in the atmosphere sulphuric acid and water vapour can rapidly form clusters, and that cosmic rays enhance the formation rate by up to ten-fold or more. However, in the lowest layer of the atmosphere, within about a kilometre of Earth's surface, the CLOUD results show that additional vapours such as ammonia are required. Crucially, however, the CLOUD results show that sulphuric acid, water and ammonia alone – even with the enhancement of cosmic rays - are not sufficient to explain atmospheric observations of aerosol formation. Additional vapours must therefore be involved, and finding out their identity will be the next step for CLOUD."
  There are more details on that page, such as this PDF, which states:
  "This result leaves open the possibility that cosmic rays could also influence climate. However, it is premature to conclude that cosmic rays have a significant influence on climate until the additional nucleating vapours have been identified, their ion enhancement measured, and the ultimate effects on clouds have been confirmed."
  Emphasis added.
  If he doesn't like the account from Discover Magazine/Phil Plait, there's also this one from PhysOrg.com. Maybe with these sources he can manage to find one that isn't as liberally biased as he seems to think most of reality is.
7. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by Hatta · 2011-09-01 01:33 · Score: 2
  
  No, his version of the story is not getting much press because there's no money in it. Truth and falsehood make no difference to the press.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
8. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by daaarrriiin · 2011-09-01 01:46 · Score: 1
  
  Old argument -->http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970105.html ... Didn't the ozone layer used to protect the planet from cosmic rays?
9. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by NeutronCowboy · 2011-09-01 03:18 · Score: 1
  
  Instead of reading a blog, you should read the actual article. Much more informative, and much less wrong. See above for various links with far more informational content than Watt's blog.
  
  --
  Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
10. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by ColdWetDog · 2011-09-01 04:09 · Score: 1
  
  Here. Read this who describes the original paper and it's conclusions. Not some random blogger. One of the better posts on the thread.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
11. Re:cosmic rays from the sun by riverat1 · 2011-09-01 11:26 · Score: 1
  
  Um... cosmic rays do not come from the Sun, in fact when the Sun is at the top of its 11 year cycle cosmic rays are suppressed by the Sun's magnetosphere and vice versa.
  No one is suppressing the story about this research unless you think pointing out that doesn't mean as much as WattsUpWithThat and others want it to mean with regards to global warming is suppressing it.
Pacman Jones already knows how to make it rain. by aapold · 2011-08-31 23:10 · Score: 1

Pacman Jones makes it rain.

--
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
1. Re:Pacman Jones already knows how to make it rain. by umberleigh · 2011-08-31 23:47 · Score: 0
  
  leave them anal one?
2. Re:Pacman Jones already knows how to make it rain. by dvoecks · 2011-09-01 01:16 · Score: 1
  
  Just make sure you don't try to pick up the "precipitation" too soon, or you're going to get punched.
Cheesolate by AliasMarlowe · 2011-08-31 23:18 · Score: 1

Stupid swiss should better stick to making chocolate!!
...and using it to fill the holes in their cheese!

--
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
1. Re:Cheesolate by Bucky24 · 2011-09-01 07:56 · Score: 1
  
  I have to say, that sounds delicious.
  
  --
  All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
thermal thursday, not much left to lie about by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 23:29 · Score: 0

uncle sam will probably try to feign lucidity again, whilst shearing more sheeples in order to make more eye coverings.
disarm. stop lying about every fauxking thing. feed the hungry. those are the mathematically & spiritually correct options now.
the imaginary 'borders' are disappearing as we fail to communicate once more. read the teepeeleaks etchings, or watch the movie (unrepentant). that'll open one's eyes, & turn their stomach at the same time, as it's (holycostal genocides) still happening in real time all around the globe, right now. there's certainly 'too many' of some things, but it's not people.
Just don't let the airline pilots look down by Ptur · 2011-08-31 23:32 · Score: 1

oops....
1. Re:Just don't let the airline pilots look down by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 23:49 · Score: 0
  
  with the remaining eye!
2. Re:Just don't let the airline pilots look down by poofmeisterp · 2011-09-01 05:21 · Score: 1
  
  It's warranted, my friend. It's warranted.
  Some moderators don't understand the concept of "humor", but a lot of them do. Roll dem dice! :)
Prior art by Anonymous Coward · 2011-08-31 23:44 · Score: 0

I thought HAARP already did this?
If it works, we will need an Igor to save us! by arvn · 2011-08-31 23:55 · Score: 1

I think that I saw this already, in the land of Malaria, an Evil Scientist (Why are they always Evil?) creates a rain machine (Fires pink beams into the sky) and causes it to rain ALL the time.......causing a situation where Evil science projects are the country's only source of income........and the Igor saves the day/country/his lot in life/, in the end by destroying it.
1. Re:If it works, we will need an Igor to save us! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 03:31 · Score: 0
  
  Pull the Switch!
2. Re:If it works, we will need an Igor to save us! by ColdWetDog · 2011-09-01 04:10 · Score: 1
  
  I think that I saw this already, in the land of Malaria, an Evil Scientist (Why are they always Evil?) creates a rain machine (Fires pink beams into the sky) and causes it to rain ALL the time.......causing a situation where Evil science projects are the country's only source of income........and the Igor saves the day/country/his lot in life/, in the end by destroying it.
  I saw that too. I thought it was a travel documentary about Scotland.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
This will never work by minderaser · 2011-09-01 00:14 · Score: 0

Not unless they mount the frikkin' laser on shark's heads
1. Re:This will never work by Zeroko · 2011-09-01 19:12 · Score: 1
  
  Would those be flying sharks?
But here in the US... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 00:28 · Score: 1

We would get arrested if we were shooting lasers into the sky, and one happened to shine into an airplane cockpit.
hmmm by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 00:46 · Score: 1

I'm not sure how the strippers are going to feel about this...
1. Re:hmmm by GameboyRMH · 2011-09-01 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe they can use energy-collecting thongs that absorb the lasers and then they can sell the power back to the grid. Couple that with using the same material for the floor around the pole, the club sells that power back and repays the strippers based on how many watts were collected during their act.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
As tried... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 00:56 · Score: 0

By Wilhelm Reich, and dramatized by ... yes, Kate Bush.
A message from England... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 00:57 · Score: 0

.. you can tell them to stop now. Thanks
In other news... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 01:23 · Score: 0

Seven airline pilots were blinded over Switzerland.
cars make nitric acid precursors by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 01:45 · Score: 0

NOx emissions oxidize to nitric acid. Diesels even emit smart particles to aid in rain formation. Maybe Europe knows this, and rain generation is one of the benefits of diesel engines.
Acid rain? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 01:53 · Score: 0

Acid rain?
Massively increases potential for droughts by GauteL · 2011-09-01 01:56 · Score: 1

... and the following famines and potential warfare.
We already see this with dams on rivers which are vital to the down streams countries and people. If it became realistically possible to control the rain, we would start to see countries affecting each others rain fall, especially due to fairly predictable overall wind patterns.
I'm not saying there aren't positive possibilities, but there is massive scope for negative consequences and if this became viable technology it is something the UN would have to be fully on top of.
Excellent choice by Crouty · 2011-09-01 01:58 · Score: 1

Not that the area above lake Geneva was one of the most crowded airspaces in Europe or anything.
Still, I welcome our rain-making overlords.

--
On se Internetz nobody noes your German.
How do they know? by prometx42 · 2011-09-01 02:02 · Score: 1

Fascinating story but, my question is, what sensory apparatus are they using to measure "stable drops a few thousandths of a millimeter in diameter" in the resulting atmosphere?
They seem to have neglected to mention their prior discovery, The Star Trek Duotronic Sensor Array...
Energy Cost? by denshao2 · 2011-09-01 02:13 · Score: 1

If the total energy/financial cost of causing rain is more than the cost of transporting water via conventional means, then it's not really practical.
The inevitable legal question by RogueWarrior65 · 2011-09-01 02:15 · Score: 1

So let's say we're in drought-stricken West Texas and you zap the clouds and make it rain. But that rain would have originally fallen on central or east Texas. To whom does the rain water belong?
1. Re:The inevitable legal question by Animats · 2011-09-01 03:26 · Score: 1
  
  That's a real issue. Santa Clara County, CA, which used to be a major agricultural area before Silicon Valley took it over, had, for decades, a rain-making operation. Several hundred silver-iodide generators were spread around the county, and, when conditions were right, the call went out to turn them on. This increased rain in the agricultural valley, while reducing it in the barren inland hills. The end result was about 10% more rain.
2. Re:The inevitable legal question by sgt+scrub · 2011-09-01 04:39 · Score: 1
  
  To whom does the rain water belong?
  Billy Bob.
  
  --
  Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
3. Re:The inevitable legal question by poofmeisterp · 2011-09-01 05:22 · Score: 1
  
  So let's say we're in drought-stricken West Texas and you zap the clouds and make it rain. But that rain would have originally fallen on central or east Texas. To whom does the rain water belong?
  Stop being smart. You're ruining the stock values. :)
  HUMOR, people. HUMOR.
I don't need lasers to make it rain. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 02:16 · Score: 0

Just a stack of dollar bills :-)
Obligatory XKCD by ryzvonusef · 2011-09-01 03:18 · Score: 1

http://xkcd.com/401/

--
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
Rain? by CPNABEND · 2011-09-01 03:29 · Score: 1

I think the research should continue... In Texas!

--
My wife doesn't listen to me either...
1. Re:Rain? by boristdog · 2011-09-01 04:04 · Score: 1
  
  I'm-a go out this evening and fire every damn laser pointer I gots into the air tonight...It may not work but it will drive the cats completely nuts.
No by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-01 03:42 · Score: 0

I completely FORBID this use of Lasers pointed and energized into the atmosphere.
That is stupid by sgt+scrub · 2011-09-01 04:37 · Score: 1

It will never work. They need to have prayer meetings like we do here in Texas. That always works.
Oh wait.

--
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
1. Re:That is stupid by poofmeisterp · 2011-09-01 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  It will never work. They need to have prayer meetings like we do here in Texas. That always works.
  Oh wait.
  Well, it will eventually.
  Maybe not today, maybe not this year.... but damnit, it will! :>
  HUMOR, HUMOR.
Scale by LeadSongDog · 2011-09-01 06:09 · Score: 1

stable drops a few thousandths of a millimeter in d
How many Olympic-sized swimming pools is that?

--
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
1. Re:Scale by riverat1 · 2011-09-01 12:03 · Score: 1
  
  About 10^-20?
bill clinton pounds cloud with hammer, cloud cries by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-05 01:08 · Score: 0

done went and got himself a double headed drought bustin workin model he says: arkansasrainmaker.blogspot.com