When you look up in the sky, sometimes you may see long cloud-like trails or chemtrails that are left behind by airplanes. Do you ever think about them? Where do they come from, and are they natural? If you believe in science, then you probably already have an explanation in your head why do they even show up. But, if you believe in conspiracies, then you probably assume that is just another way of the government trying to manipulate the population. Try and think of when the last time you saw a deep blue sky and you’ll notice that we no longer have pristine blue skies like we did when we were younger, they have morphed into a dim milky color that is almost constant.
Have you heard of the chemtrail conspiracy theory? It is an unproven theory (so far), or a suspicion better said, that the long-lasting trails airplanes leave behind consist of chemical or biological agents that are deliberately sprayed for sinister purposes that are yet unknown to the general public. The theory started spreading in 1996 when the United States Air Force was accused of “spraying the U.S. population with mysterious substances.”
The believers in the conspiracy theory claim that the chemtrails or chem clouds contain substances that may be used for psychological manipulation, human population control, solar radiation management, or even weather modification. Due to the popularity of the theory, many official agencies have received inquiries from people demanding an explanation. Ever since then, scientists and government officials have been trying to prove that chemtrails or chem clouds are a normal phenomenon.
How Was The Chemtrail Conspiracy Created
It is believed that the chemtrail craze was started back in 1996 when the U.S. Air Force published a certain intriguing paper. The paper was actually a research (carried out by military researchers) how weather manipulation can contribute to combats. The paper was explicitly presented as a work of speculative futurism about the things that could happen in a couple of decades. However, it undoubtedly raised many suspicions.
Then, in 1999, William Thomas, an environmental journalist, published an article that made the idea of chemtrails very popular. He presented them as toxic clouds the Air Force was using to carry out geoengineering experiments. These articles, and many alike started raising even more suspicion and eventually gave rise to the chemtrails conspiracy theory.
Why Do “Chemtrails” Appear
The explanation is simple. Jet engines release incredibly hot and humid air. And, high in the atmosphere, the air is very cold. The temperature is often lower than -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Obviously, the end result of all this is condensation. When the water vapor comes out of the engines, it condenses into water drops and then crystallizes into ice. These ice crystals are the clouds that form behind the engine. That is why the scientists (and all the others should) call them contrails (short for “condensation trails”).
However, due to the fact that the engines do not only release water vapor but also other byproducts of engine exhaust such as carbon dioxide, soot, sulfate particles, and nitrogen oxides, people started believing that these byproducts are damaging the environment and that the government may use this to experiment with different effects.
The Chemtrails Conspiracy Theories
Besides the already mentioned conspiracy theories, such as the weather control, one particular theory was spread quite a lot. This theory was very extreme and it claimed that the substances in the chemtrails were used to “weed out” the sick and the elderly. In addition, conspiracy theorists latch on to anecdotal evidence that connect epidemics of flulike symptoms to instances of contrails.
Up until now, scientists have managed to defeat all the theories. The first way to do this is by explaining why and how are contrails actually created. Also, many reputable scientists have beaten the theories by explaining that chemtrails and similar experiments would be quite useless. The reason behind this is because the chemtrails are so high in the atmosphere and the unpredictable winds would move them around significantly, making the experiments useless and completely unreliable.
