Help Needed

[Wingman]

I found one -- a firm believer in Chem Trails.

She comes into my office daily saying things like "today is a good day for chem trails; just wait and see," or "did you see all the chem trails crisscrossing the sky yesterday?" Normally I would assume the person was just being sarcastic/joking. But, this is a colleague that I know to be serious about any topic that she brings up.

We've argued about it for far too long (not a healthy use of my time while I'm at work, even though I welcome any aviation-related discussion). I need your help!

How do I bust this fervent belief in a myth?

[WarHawK]

If they're very adamant about it, you may never be able to help them become educated in the manner because their opinion is already made up, much like politics.

Perhaps establish what is a cloud with this individual; once that is agreed upon, the jump to understanding contrails is not a great one.

[Storm]

You've several options:

• The serious approach. See if they know the difference between chemtrails and contrails. Chances are they don't. Explain the basic physics of contrails. That's mostly you talking, so expect glazed eyes to take over, less than 5% to sink in, and the chemtrail rubbish to continue.
• The psychological approach. Ask them to help you understand the phenomenon of chemtrails, how they work, who is doing it and why, what effects we should look for, and what we can do about it. If you do this correctly and they have any semblance of intelligence, they will talk themselves into a healthy skepticism, or at least doubt, without it appearing that you're sending them up. You might get away with it. Might.
• The fun approach. Feign panic. Ask what to do. What are the symptoms? Is there something you can wear to protect yourself? Should we only venture outside in surgical masks? Who should we write to to demand a stop to this scurrilous practice? Basically the same as the psychological approach but sounding somewhere between The Onion and National Enquirer. You probably won't get away with this one.
• The dismissive approach. Tell them to stop watching so much Faux News. But you didn't want them as a friend anyway, did you?

[Wingman]

I've tried your first approach, Storm, and have realized that WarHawk's respective theory holds true. Looking forward to trying the third approach!

[Kalo]

You could try telling her contrails are pretty much the same as when you start your car on a cold day. All that white smoke is actually water vapor from your exhaust system. Except a jet engine produces way more white smoke, and depending on the winds/temp they will look different. Also at 30,000ft all that water vapor will freeze.

[Storm]

You could try telling her contrails are pretty much the same as when you start your car on a cold day. All that white smoke is actually water vapor from your exhaust system.

Japanese car manufacturers are out to get us?!

[Travis]

Japanese car manufacturers are out to get us?!

Haha storm, you crack me up!

[NY1972A]

Its been proven that "Chemtrails are a fallacy. Think about it. The amount of "material" you would have to acquire in order to make the "lines" you see in the sky would need the capacity of the fuelk tanks themselves. I was reading about "contrails" the other day and how they're made and found out its the water vapor from the exhaust fumes. Chem trails are fictitious...end of story.