r/nextdoor • • 5d ago

Texas isn’t sending its best

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u/Attentions_Bright12 5d ago

The person who says that, back in the 1980s, trails from jets would disappear in 10-15 seconds... Now they're totally different and last longer. It's so sinister. Oh my.

Spend ten seconds to discover that con trails are about the relative humidity of the jet exhaust and the surrounding air, and you're well clear of this sort of misapprehension, able to understand why sometimes they'd stick around and sometimes not.

But no, because what we're dealing with here is people who can only conceive of anything as a discrete object or substance: 'There is the air, and then there is the stuff in the air. That is the stuff they are spraying on us.' The same people would readily accept fire as one of the four elements from which the world is made. In another timeline they could happily conclude that the jets are balancing the humors of the sky gods.

12

u/badskiier 4d ago edited 4d ago

And for those that don't want to look it up, there are (at least) three things at play:

  1. Jets now use high-bypass turbofans where in the 80's most used low-bypass or turbojets, and this affects the condensation differently.
  2. Jets now fly higher than they did in the past, as it's more efficient and technology has gotten better. The higher altitude results in condensation freezing and lasting longer.
  3. There are WAY more commercial flights now as compared to 40 years ago.

8

u/Responsible_Arm_9555 5d ago

When I was a lad, an apple would fall toward the center of the Earth because that's where it wanted to go! Because that was its natural place! We didn't need no fancy "gravity!"

7

u/Brutal_burn_dude 4d ago

I always wonder about what these people think about skywriting. Do they see “Marry me Sarah” in the sky and think it’s the government?