Baloo

I really do not feel like tossing yet one more log onto the flames of the Ark thread. But I just wanted to share some fun I'd been having with numbers.

The prevailing global flood theory holds that a canopy of water vapor rained down and, over a period of about 40 days, buried the earth in water to a depth exceeding the height of Mount Everest (approx. 8,848 meters).

The first question I have is: how much water are we talking here? Well, if the average radius of the earth is taken as about 6370 km, we can figure out the volume of water by
1) finding the volume of the planet using r=6370km
2) finding the volume if we add 8,848 meters to the radius and
3) subtracting the two results.

This works out to a volume of water roughly equal to 4.5x10^18 m^3 (4.5 billion billion cubic meters of water). This much water has a mass of 4.5x10^21 kg.

Now, the really intriguing question...

If all of this water went from a vapor state to a condensed state, it had to have given up 2261 Joules/gram to do so. A simple computation indicates that the 4.5 billion trillion kg of water therefore gave up 1x10^28 Joules of energy in condensing.

Finally, some perspective. This amount of energy is roughly the equivalent of 1 hundred billion hydrogen bombs. Hmmm... ok, that just blurs things with another outrageously huge number.

Let's try this: scientists estimate that if a big enough asteroid hit the planet, it would release enough energy to cause a mass extinction capable of wiping out more than 95% of the living animals on the planet (note: in comparison, hydrogen bombs are firecrackers). In fact, it is theorized that just such an asteroid hit 65 million years ago, wiping out (amongst others) the dinosaurs. Now, the energy of condensation of the vapor mentioned above would be the energy equivalent of an asteroid as big as that thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs striking the earth every 3 minutes for 40 straight days.

I think we're getting an idea ... but I have one final analogy:

As a child, I learned that using a standard 5 inch magnifying glass, I could focus a 20 square-inch area of sunlight onto a 1/30 square-inch area in size. As you probably suspect, this had devastating effects on any six-legged critters in the vicinity. You see, an ant is physiologically capable of dispersing sun's heat at a faster rate than it comes down on the hottest summer afternoon. However, the magnifying glass effectively increases the rate at which the sun infuses the ant with energy by a scale of about 600 - the ant, unable to disperse that much energy fast enough, dies instantly.

The heat of condensation, released over 40 days, is equivalent to the amount of energy delivered by the sun to the earth over a period of 1,000 years. Given that ants simply shrivel up, start smoking, and sometimes even catch fire when the sun's rate of energy is increased 600 fold, well, one can only wonder how someone on the ark felt when the condensing water released energy at roughly 9,000 times the rate of the sun...

Ok, that's all I have now for Fun With Numbers... Hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed doing the calculations.

My sources (with a nod to google):

Height of Everest: <a href="http://classic.mountainzone.com/features/everestht/" target="_blank">http://classic.mountainzone.com/features/everestht/</a>

Energy of H-bombs: <a href="http://www.sunblock99.org.uk/sb99/people/JIreland/energy/scales.html" target="_blank">http://www.sunblock99.org.uk/sb99/people/JIreland/energy/scales.html</a>

Energy of K/T Asteroid:
<a href="http://www.astronomy.org.nz/events/monthly_meetings/Reviews/2000/2000_march_review.htm" target="_blank">http://www.astronomy.org.nz/events/monthly_meetings/Reviews/2000/2000_march_review.htm</a>

Dimensions of Earth:
<a href="http://www.kralidis.ca/gis/maproj/earthdims.htm" target="_blank">http://www.kralidis.ca/gis/maproj/earthdims.htm</a>

Heat of Condensation of Water:
<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wlatent1.htm" target="_blank">http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wlatent1.htm</a>

Kosh

&lt;Kent Hovind&gt;

Well you see, that's the beauty of it. All that energy helped God to wipe out all the wicked people (and the animals and plants too). A reall "cleansing", if you know what I mean. Noah and his family were unable to see the fires, because they were safe in the ark, protected from the heat by the magical Gopher wood. Then when the fires were done, the water put them out. Actually, it was the fires that God used to cleanse the Earth, and the Flood was just a fire abatement mechanism. This also accounts for the KT boundry which scientists have misinterpreted as a 65 MYO event. It was really from the fires, which killed the Dinosaurs, which were put out by the flood.
&lt;/Kent Hovind&gt;



[ September 23, 2002: Message edited by: Kosh ]</p>

Vampyroteuthis

Kosh,

You are too funny!

Aimee

RS508

Those are great numbers and a fun way of looking at its absurdity. In reality I assume it would reach a point where the additional heat generated by the condensation would overcome the raised boiling point caused by the incredible pressure on the oceans by the water in the atmosphere and the seas would start boiling off causing this wierd stability problem of rain/evaporation. Earth would probably explode.

How about the effect on gravity because of the increased mass of the earth? Might make Noah weigh about 600lbs?

Grumpy

Since the average radius of the Earth includes the elevation of Mt. Everest, then it's not fair to add the total height of Mt. Everest to the average radius.

A slicker way would be to discover the total volume of the present-day oceans (I used to have this figure, but can't find it now). Spread this volume of water over a smooth Earth. How deep is it? That's the magnitude of the Flood (F).

See, you've gotta figure that the Flood waters pooled into the present-day ocean basins, since it couldn't go anywhere else. Also, since YECs tell us geologic strata were laid down during the Flood, we know that present-day topography is not the same as that before the Flood. (Noah must have landed on a mountain subsequently named Ararat; he wouldn't have known it by that name.)

But perhaps this is a strawman. It is simple enough to refute by pointing out that the derived depth of the Flood (F) must have been lower than the extreme height of Everest. How, then, could Everest have been formed during the Flood, and why are there marine deposits near the summit?

Kosh

Look, just repeat after me:

Mythology of Ignorant Bronze Age Goat Herders.


Everybody now!

Gracchus

HEY! What do you know about herding goats? You're the one who is ignorant.

happyboy

hey, now, people.....don't mock the Grand Sky Faery. He might get mad and smite you with divine pixie dust!

happyboy