CONTRAILS, NOT CHEMTRAILS
A PUSU Fact Sheet for Young People · draft for schools
THE CLAIM
The white trails left behind aeroplanes are secret chemicals ('chemtrails')
sprayed to poison people or to control the weather.
» What the trail actually is
A jet engine burns kerosene and, like any burning, gives off water vapour and
carbon dioxide. High up where airliners fly it is bitterly cold -- around
minus 40 to minus 60 degrees -- so that water vapour freezes at once into
millions of tiny ice crystals. The white line is a man-made cloud of ice,
exactly like the cloud you make when you breathe out on a frosty morning.
» Why some trails last and some vanish
It depends on the air, not the plane. When the air up there is dry, the ice
crystals turn straight back into invisible vapour and the trail disappears in
seconds. When the air is already damp, the crystals linger and spread into
wispy cloud, just like natural cirrus. A long, spreading trail simply means
the air was humid that day.
» Why there is no secret spraying
The make-up of jet exhaust has been measured thousands of times and holds no
surprises. Spraying a whole country would need huge tanks on every aircraft
and would be noticed at once by the pilots, engineers and refuellers who work
on planes every day. A secret shared by that many people would not stay secret
for long.
★ TRY IT YOURSELF ★
Breathe out hard on a cold day and watch your own 'chemtrail' appear and then
fade. You have just done what a jet engine does -- only smaller, and with no
chemicals at all.