Some people believe that the government is spraying something into the air, and this creates unsual looking contrails. They call these “chemtrails”. Now, there is no real evidence that “chemtrails” are real, but there are several myths on the internet about “chemtrails”. All these myths can very easily be shown to be false, and I’ve gathered the most popular myths here as a little time-saver for the person who has encountered “chemtrails” for the first time.
Myth #1 – Normal contrails don’t last very long, but “chemtrails” last for hours and sometimes spread out.
False – Contrails fade away, or persist, or even spread out to cover the sky, depending on the weather conditions. you can confirm this by looking in an encyclopedia. such as the Encyclopædia Britannica
[Contrails] may last for several hours. The trail may be distorted by the winds, and sometimes it spreads outwards to form a layer of cirrus cloud.
For more info on this myth, read “Persisting and Spreading contrails”
Myth #2 - Contrails have been observed to persist and spread when the humidity was too low, so they must be “chemtrails”
False – Nobody has ever measured low humidity within a persisting contrail. The fact is it is very difficult to measure humidity in a specific region at a specific altitude, at a given time, the best you can do is make a rough prediction. Measurements are made by weather balloons at just a few stations that average 235 miles apart, at 12 hour intervals, and then local predictions are extrapolated from this. The weather balloons can drift as much as 100 miles in their ascent, so you never know where the measurements are coming from. Humidity can vary by as much as 80% in a 12 hour period, and vary by similar amount over just a few miles. The fact that the contrail is spreading is actually a far more accurate indicator of high humidity than the available humidity predictions. NASAs own experiments (right) show persisting contrails over a large range of calculated humidities, even down to 10%.
Myth #3 – Long lasting contrails have appeared in “parallel lines”, “grid” and “X” formations, which are not normal, so must be “chemtrails.
False. Well, the last bit is false. Yes, contrails make all kinds of patterns in the sky, simply because there are a lot of planes flying overhead, and they fly in all directions. This is pretty much a function of where you live, and the prevailing winds. For example, if you live the Willamette Valley, Oregon, the overflying planes are nearly all North/South, so you’ll get parallel lines. If you live live in more central place, like North Texas, you’ll get planes flying overhead in every direction, so you will get “X” patterns (and “H” and “grids”). If there’s enough wind, and the trails last long enough, then the grid might spread out to cover the sky.
Myth #4 – A bill to ban chemtrails was introduced into congress by Dennis Kucinich, but quickly had chemtrails edited out.
False – HR 2977 was written by a bunch of UFO enthusiasts intent on exposing a conspiracy to suppress alien technology. Dennis Kucinich did not write the bill, he not know what chemtrails were, and when he found out, he distanced himself from that language. The bill was re-written in order that it might pass. See the full article: Kucinich, Chemtrails and HR 2977.
Myth #5 – Public Law 105-85 gives the military permission to experiment with chemical and biological weapons on humans, without their consent
False – 105-85, Sec. 1078, actually prevents experiments except for peaceful purposes, and those can only be performed if informed consent is obtained from each test subject. It’s basically the same procedure as for human drug trials.
SUMMARY
Those myths are really the basis of the “chemtrail” conspiracy theory. There is more, of course, like the halos and sun-dogs that you sometimes see (normal atmospheric optical effects), the dark lines (shadows of varying types), the stuff on the ground (unconnected). But these things really get to the heart of 99% of the chemtrail argument. After they are dispensed with, the theory holds about as much water as alien mind-control implants.
Let me know if you’ve got something else you’d like investigating, and I might add it here.
Just leave a comment below.
I was simply asking why you posted your images of normal contrails.
If you have looked at this site you’ll find they are no different from contrail images taken many decades ago as far back as the 1940s.
It’s precisely because your questions have not shown up and I don’t know what you asked that I’m wondering what you think the significance of the images is supposed to be?
Looking forwards to reading your questions.
Skitz is posting over on Metabunk, and has some sensible questions.
“The Science Of Contrails And Pseudoscience Of Chemtrails.”
Better? Yes?
To all non-believers and the so called experts on Contrails. Everything you tried to disproof can now be proven, but even if you hear or see it you stilled won’t believe it. Ignorance is Bliss. Your new best friend David Keith Geo-engineering will explain to you step by step and the things he is doing to save our planet. He actually believes he can change Global warming, Climate control and CO2 levels. Whatever they are spraying up in the Stratosphere, it ain’t going to change anything. We must stop this project before there are any adverse affects on our health, even David Keith doesn’t know.
“Everything you tried to disproof can now be proven”
So prove it. Actually if I see the evidence I WILL believe it – that is what it means to be evidence driven. Seeing evidence and not believing it is what chemtrail believers so – so I guess it is no surprise they think everyone else does too.
But to be rational, and a critical thinker means that one must actually believe the evidence – so if you have verifiable evidence then you will convince me.
Go on – you can be the first person ever to provide verifiable evidence that chemtrails exist and convince every rational debunker in the world!
And yes, David Keith believes he could change global warming. Got any actual evidence that he’s doing it and not just talking about it?
@ MikeC – So you’re saying geo-engineering cannot be proven? Are you also saying that weather modification is not ongoing by weather consulting groups? Western Weather Consulting is only one of the companies operating geo-engineering programs, including aerosol spraying at high altitudes, as outlined as the ‘prescribed method’ by geo-engineer science (at a height of between 9 and 13 miles.)
Weather is a hedge fund on the mercantile exchange. Do you think there’s not a monetary reward for those investing in weather hedge funds, when the technology has existed for decades to affect weather and weather systems?
Wow. You debunkers have quite the job to do – to try and convince the masses that geo-engineering, even in the form of it’s most base application for weather modification companies – who openly advertise their technology – doesn’t really exist…Good luck with that.
What fairy tales would you like to spin next?
As for the web site co-ordinator who emailed me that most of my earlier questions could be answered – they weren’t. You did not address the fact that myself and a friend witnessed a plane laying down a trail that turned from white, to brown, before the spray substance appeared to completely run out. It was at that precise moment that the pilot turned the plane around in the sky, and headed back towards the Oregon coast. This was observed off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada.
What would you have us believe next? That it was a flight coming home to Vancouver, B.C. from Los Angeles, California – and it turned around in the sky because the kids on board convinced the pilot they’d like a few more days at Disneyland?
If we had not seen this plane perform this move, with the spray turning from a large persistent plume of white that turned to brown briefly, then stop – causing him to make a complete U turn in the sky to head back in the direction he’d just travelled from? Perhaps your explanations would dupe us as well. We observed the purposeful spraying, and the substance running out, causing the plane to cease his route and completely turn around in the sky to head back where he’d just travelled from. Debunk that.
We’ve had three cancers in our own family – all terminal. We hear of more cases every day here – and we know this is not normal. Whether it be geo-engineering being performed for some other means – or simply the weather modification companies – it is having a negative effect on the environment, birds, bees and people.
No matter how you people try to debunk it.
No matter how hard? So you are convinced. Go tell the world then- don’t just argue with us on a website where everyone is anonymous including me.
Tell the press. Local, regional, national. If you are worried about what the programs are doing surely you must tell someone. And don’t stop until they listen.
Or better yet- go make some money off of the programs somehow. Sell chemtrail protection, eradication, detection. Something besides pontlessly arguing with us.
It just seems odd that you witnessed such a specific event that you truly believed was a clandestine operation designed to modify nature while at the same time directly harming yourself and members of your family and yet all you do is go online and post on message boards. At the very least you don’t really beleive the conspiracy which would be understandable- at the most you beleive it, witness it and have evidence of its ill effects and yet still sit idly by doing nothing while it continues making you as guilty as those who you claim are doing it.
So prove me wrong- in the next few days I need to see a link to a news story in your area which you have broken. It will take a sacrifice on your part, however, in that you will have to surrender your anonimity in order to be a part of the news story. They won’t just run with an anonymous tip.
But wouldn’t that be worth it in the end if it helped expose what you believe to be such an awful operation?
P Saunders wrote:
“@ MikeC – So you’re saying geo-engineering cannot be proven? Are you also saying that weather modification is not ongoing by weather consulting groups?”
Geoengineering can certainly be proven – carbon sequestration, reforrestation, cool roofs, etc. What you say is happening is solar radiation management by “spraying” something in the atmosphere – that is only 1 type of geo-enginering and yet you seem to think it is the only one.
But how about you prove it?
Also weather modification, aka cloud seeding, is also certainly happening. But how about you prove that it has anything to do with airliners leaving trails of any sort at 30,000 feet, since those are the things you are seeing.
on page 8 of comments, when Austin was asking for evidence of contrails in in media pre-dating 96, i thought a likely candidate would be japanese anime. i haven’t found any yet just using google picture search (i know they definitely are in there though, they like that sort of attention to detail), but i did find this yahoo question and answer, which is interesting…
Is there a special meaning to airplane contrails in Japanese pop art?
So often when you see the same things over and over in Japanese art or films, they seem to have a cultural meaning that is idiomatic and a foreigner would never know. For instance, circles can represent the moon, and the Moon has special meaning in Zen. The list of things I saw over and over for years but never knew had a second meaning grows all the time.
Frequently in Japanese films or books you will see a character, pausing to reflect and staring silently at a contrail from a jet high overhead. This is not in the usual situation you’d see in western works. In the west you see this, but that is some other character is taking a trip somewhere on a plane and the one on the ground is thinking about them. That happens in Japanese works too. But, in many cases no one is taking a trip, a character is just standing there staring up at an unrelated plane flying overhead, leaving a cloud behind.
Many times when I’ve seen something like that, I’ve written it off as the artists thinking “contrails look interesting”, or they were just trying to save money and pad out the film by animating something easy. However, I’ve seen this “contrail watch” so often I’m starting to think that this particular trope might have a special meaning in Japanese culture. After poking around a while, I couldn’t find anything related to it. Does anyone know if it does have a second meaning, or are Japanese artists just putting contrails in because “everybody else is doing it”, “this will fill in time cheaply”, or “jets are cool” etc?
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Hikari
Best Answer – Chosen by Voters
Contrails do have a special meaning. It is said that if you see 7 contrails overhead in one day that you are granted luck (since 7 is a lucky number in Japan) and a wish. They represent a change in a person. Almost like lines in the sky pointing you in the right direction, contrails “make we want to go on a journey” (Makoto Shinkai).
In some of the Japanese songs I’ve heard they say “I’m chasing contrails–one day I’ll be able to touch them–on the other side of the sky.” I feel this is symbolic to people chasing their dreams. But they know that they’ll never be able to touch that contrail because dreams always remain dreams. Silly things for kids to chase and wish for.
And you have to admit, contrails are quite lovely looking.
”
The Wings of Honneamise is an exceptional work of anime that only came to light in the West about a decade after it was originally released in Japan – and even then was not widely seen. It is made with a great beauty. THIS IS NONE MORE EVIDENT THAN IN THE OPENING SCENE WITH IMAGES OF JETS TAKING OFF, LEAVING HUGE CONTRAILS ACROSS THE SKY, which is contrasted against the watching Shiro and the voiceover narration where he tells how he wanted to be in the Navy but ended up joining the Space Force instead. “
(whoops… came out in 1987)
That’s very interesting. I wonder if other cultures have similar things.
I have to admit that I don’t recall much interest in chemtrails coming out of Japan.
The Japanese wikpedia chemtrail page is very sparse, and has no Japanese references:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B1%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%83%88%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB
It seems like a very simplistic re-telling of various random aspects of the myth.