Neal Stephenson: Termination Shock
Long Now
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What Is Sulphuric Acid?
The painting was made not long after the eruption of crackatoa, which depressed temperatures all over the world and created spectacular sunsets like this one. For a couple of years afterwards, in the 19 sixties, yet another eruption in indonesia put a plume of ejecta into the atmosphere. When sulphur dioxide is injected into the stratosphere, it combines with available water to form sulphuric acid that drifts around in the form of tiny droplets. This contributes to a general brightening of the sky that explains the beautiful sunsets,. as well as some of the mysterious atmospheric phenomena described by those byzantine and scndin an sources - including benjamin franklin
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