Transcript Session 6 – Evidence for a young eath Pt.2

Session 6 – Evidence for a young earth
In this final session
we will examine
several evidences
from the earth that
show that it cannot
be billions of
years old, and that
line up with the
earth being young
Sodium levels in the ocean
This is one of the
oldest methods around
to get an idea of the
age of the earth
(or oceans in this case)
This method was first suggested by Isaac
Newton as a way to find the age of the earth
Sodium gets inside the ocean by multiple
means; rivers run into the ocean and bring
sodium with them, surface runoffs and
ground water also deposit sodium
into the ocean.
The amount of sodium dumped into the
ocean annually is 450 million tons.
There are also ways for sodium to
leave the ocean
Waves spray water onto the shores and the
water eventually evaporates, leaving the salt
behind (on the shore.) There are also
different clays within the ocean that absorb
sodium, and one specific mineral called
Zeolite can absorb large amounts of sodium.
The amount of sodium that gets out of the
ocean is 27% of the sodium that gets put
into the ocean every year.
Measuring the level of salinity of the ocean
and calculating how long it would take to
reach the present level (assuming zero to
begin with) we get a date of 62 million years
Evolutionary ideas put the oceans forming
3.6-4.0 billion years ago, and because of
this they have to assume there were
different situations that solves the problem
throughout history
Sediment levels in the ocean gives us
another indicator of age
Every year, water and
winds erode around 20
billion tons of
sediments from the
continents and deposits
them inside the ocean.
These sediments accumulate on the ocean floor,
and the average total thickness for the
sediments is 400 meters deep.
There is only one
known way to remove
these sediments from
the ocean, and that is
plate tectonics.
The rate at which ocean floor sediments are
removed has been measured at 1 billion tons
per year, the other 19 billion tons stays on the
ocean floor. That gives an age of 12 million
years for the sediments to build up
Volcanic Measurements
If the earth is billions of
years old you would
expect there to be
billions of year’s worth
of volcanic debris spread
around the earth.
We can measure how fast volcanic material is
ejected today, measure how much has been
ejected, and it doesn’t line up with billions of years
“A subsequent calculation, based on a
conservative estimate of an average of 1 cubic
kilometer of volcanic material per year being
ejected by the earth’s volcanoes, suggested
that in 3.5 billion years the entire earth
should have been covered by a thick blanket
of volcanic materials reaching a hight of 7 km.
(23,000 feet)” – Snellings
But that’s not even dealing with the
numbers that we actually observe
The rate that was measure from 1940-1980
measured 3 cubic kilometers per year just
from the massive volcanoes, and that number
does not include the dozens of smaller
eruptions that occur in that time period.
If we take the observed amounts of eruptions
and assume volcanoes have only been going off
for 2.5 billion years, there should be a layer of
volcanic material with a thickness of over 19
kilometers on earth, which is 62,000 feet worth
of volcanic material.
Instead we only find around 2,500 feet worth,
24 times less than what secular scientists
would predict.
Some appeal to Erosion to Solve this problem
“erosion does not offer a good solution to
this inconsistency for the long
uniformitarian geological ages, because
erosion would only transfer the volcanic
materials from one place to another.”
Dr. Andrew Snellings
Land Erosion
Rain and wind are both
slowly eroding away the
continents and mountains
here on earth, and the rate
at which this occurs has been
accurately measured by
geologists.
Erosion is around 2.4 inches per thousand
years for the continents as a whole
Mainstream science says the continents have
been exposed to weather for the past 3.5
billion years, assuming that the erosion rates
were similar in the past, the continent of
North America would have eroded flat (to sea
level) in a mere 10 million years!
If North America had been exposed
for 3.5 billion years, it could have
eroded flat 350 times.
Some secular geologists have claimed that
the mountains are being uplifted from
below, while this does occur it cannot
account for the sedimentary layers high in
the mountains that are supposed to be
extremely old
If uplifting is the reason we still have these
mountain ranges, erosion should have
eradicated (removed) the ancient
sedimentary layers on the mountains.
Some have proposed that the climate may
have been dryer in the past, which would
decrease the erosion rate of these
mountains. This doesn’t match the data:
“Estimates of global precipitation suggest
variable but average, or even slightly wetter,
conditions over the past three billion years.”
- Dr. Andrew Snellings
Their models for climate history do not line
up with this response of a far dryer climate
Atmospheric Helium Levels
Helium is generated by radioactive decay
and escapes into the atmosphere from the
crust of the earth
Air in our atmosphere is
primarily composed of
nitrogen (78.1%) and
oxygen (20.1%), helium
only accounts for a small
That
turns
into
percentage of air
3.71
billion
tones
(0.0005%)
Every second 13 million helium atoms per
square inch escapes into the atmosphere
from the crust of the earth (67 grams), 0.3
million of these helium atoms (1/40th)
manage to escape from the atmosphere.
At this rate it would take 1.8 million years
to reach the current level of helium in
the atmosphere.
But the problem gets worse
“Making this helium problem worse for
uniformitarians is the discovery that there are
large volumes of helium in the earth’s crust
that have not been derived by radioactive
decay, but instead are considering primordial,
that is, they have been present inside the
earth since its beginning.”
– Dr. Andrew Snellings
That means the rate would be even higher
for certain periods of time
The typical response to avoid this evidence
for a young earth is to assume that for
billions of years helium escaping from the
earth’s crust into the atmosphere managed
to reach escape velocity speeds, and the
majority got out of the atmosphere
However, this would require the
temperature in the upper atmosphere to be
far higher than it is. And the evidence (Faint
sun paradox) says it would be
lower if anything
Planetary Magnetic Fields
The most compelling evidence that the
earth is thousands of years old like the
Bible says comes from our planets
magnetic field.
There are two theories that attempt to
explain planetary magnetic fields. The
mainstream dynamo theory, and the
creationist rapid decay theory
The magnetic field of the earth is generated
by electrical currents flowing inside the outer
core of the earth.
The question is how do
these electric currents get
started? And what sustains
them once they are going?
We will briefly look at these
two theories and how they
say magnetic fields work
Dynamo Theory
The dynamo theory is the mainstream
explanation for planetary magnetic fields,
because it’s the theory that allows fields to
last for billions of years
According to this theory, during the formation
of the earth, the earth’s rotation caused
chemical separation to occur in the outer core,
because these chemicals were charged
different complex currents were set up.
These complex currents in the outer core
(caused by earth’s rotation) are why we have
our magnetic field under the Dynamo theory.
If this theory is correct, the currents in the
outer core and the magnetic field will get
stronger and weaker throughout time, and
reverse at times too
If the dynamo theory is correct, the
magnetic field should last as long as the
earth is spinning
The Rapid Decay Theory is our competing
model to explain the origin and function of
the earth’s magnetic field.
This theory is based on the
Bible verse 2 Peter 3:5 that
suggests that the earth was
made “out of the water
and in the water”
According to this theory all the planets
originally started off as a mass of water
The molecules inside the water were aligned
producing a strong magnetic field.
God then created the earth (and other
celestial bodies) out of this water by changing
it into other types of elements
When the transformation occurred,
electrical currents in the outer core would
be established because the changing of a
magnetic field in the presence of a
conductor causes an electric current
According to this theory the magnetic field
will decay at a predictable rate due to friction
in the outer core.
This friction exists because the liquid inner
core is circulating and rubbing against the
solid mantles above and the solid inner core
below. This theory also allows magnetic
reversals to occur under certain conditions.
The first measurement of the earth
magnetic field strength was measure by
Karl Gauss in the 1830s
It turns out that the magnetic field is
decaying quite rapidly, losing 5% of its total
strength every 100 years
At this rate the magnetic field will
completely disappear in A.D. 3391
There is also archaeological evidence that
shows the earth’s magnetic field was 40%
stronger in A.D. 1000, which matches the
date of decay that we have observed
since the 1830s.
How does this show the earth is young? By
knowing how fast the magnetic field is
decaying, you can calculate how strong the
it would have been in history, and it turns
out that if you go far enough back it causes
a serious problem…
“It was calculated that the current could not
have been decaying more than 10,000 years;
otherwise its starting strength would have
been sufficient to melt the earth. Thus, the
earth must be less than 10,000 years old.”
- Dr. Andrew Snellings
“The earth’s magnetic field has been
decaying so fast that it couldn’t be more than
about 10,000 years old.”
- Dr. Jonathan Sarfati
This causes quite the problem if you believe
the earth is old, and so they have answers for
this evidence of a young earth
The dynamo theory allows for something
called a magnetic reversal to occur, and we
have strong evidence that they have occurred
in the past (we won’t debate that).
Magnetic reversal - Is a change in the Earth's
magnetic field that causes the north and
south magnetic poles to switch positions.
When this happens the magnetic field will
start to increase in strength and regenerate
itself, and then it will start decaying again.
Magnetic reversals should also happen
slowly according to the Dynamo theory, on
the order of thousands of years.
According to the Rapid Decay theory,
magnetic reversals should happen quickly
(weeks) during the worldwide flood.
Plate subduction occurring during the flood
would be the cause of these reversals, as the
plates dive down into the mantle and
eventually reach the out core.
How long do reversals take?
Inside many lava flows there is a mineral
called magnetite, as the name suggests,
magnetite is magnetic and will record the
magnetic direction (where the North Pole
is) when the lava solidifies.
If a magnetic reversal
is happening at the
time this lava is
solidifying, you could
tell by looking at these
magnetic crystals and
what direction they
are pointing
If the outside point one way, and inside
point another, you know a reversal
was happening at the time
Creationists predicted we would find lava
flows like this, showing fast magnetic
reversals three years before the first study
“Palaeomagnetic measurements of a lava
flow at Steens Mountain in Oregon have
shown that one of these magnetic polarity
transitions (part of a complete reversal)
took place in about two weeks, the time
period over which the lava would have
cooled.” - Dr. Andrew Snellings
If indeed the flood happened, these law flows
would cool much quicker underwater
Either way, we are talking weeks!
Not thousands of years for these
reversals to happen
The dynamo theory is unable to cope with
rapid reversals that we have evidence for,
while the rapid decay theory predicted
evidence would be found
Four Points of History to Rapid Decay Theory
1. After creation the magnetic field steadily
decreases for 2000 years leading to the flood
2. The flood causes rapid reversals and
instability in the magnetic field
3. For 2000 years after the flood the field
starts to recover from the catastrophe
4. After that smooth decay like we observe
today takes over
Predictive power of the Rapid Decay Theory
Dr. Humphreys who authored the theory has
calculated and predicted magnetic strengths
of other planets/moons
These calculations are based on three
important factors, the mass of the object,
the size of the core and how well it
conducts electricity, and the assumption
that the object was made from water (like
we discussed earlier.)
When a theory can make accurate blind
predictions (predicting the unknown) it is a
good sign that the theory is true
The Rapid Decay Theory, and the Dynamo
Theory both attempted to predict the
magnetic strength of planets Uranus and
Neptune. The Rapid Decay predictions were
around 100,000 times the Dynamo
predictions, and in 1986 and 1989 Voyager
2 flew by the planets and took the
measurements.
“The two rival models were inadvertently put
to the test when the Voyager 2 spacecraft
flew past these planets in 1986 and 1989.
The fields for Uranus and Neptune were just
as Humphreys had predicted.”
– Dr. Jonathan Sarfati
Not only does this model predict the strength
of planets that have magnetic fields, it can
predict which planets/moons had a magnetic
field in history and no longer do
Dr. Humphreys predicted “Older igneous
rocks from Mercury or Mars should have
natural remnant magnetization, as the
Moon's rocks do. “Natural remnant
magnetization” means rock magnetization
caused by Mar’s formerly strong (and now
non-existent) planetary magnetic field”
the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft had
the capability to measure this magnetism
soon after the predictions were made
The spacecraft measured the magnetic surface
of mars and confirmed the prediction
The theory also predicts that the moon had a
magnetic field in history that has since
decayed away (which has been confirmed.)
The Dynamo Theory fails at predicting the
planetary magnetic fields of other planets
in our solar system, and that’s not just
according to creationists
“…you would have thought we would have
given up guessing about planetary magnetic
fields after being wrong at nearly every
planet in the solar system.” (Bagenal, F. "The emptiest
magnetosphere," Physics World, (October 1989), 18-19)
Addressing one last response they have
Magnets of different parts, the North/South
Poles are called the dipole parts of a magnet,
but there are also other non-dipole parts
that account for 15% of the total strength of
the magnetic field
It has been suggested that while magnetic
strength is decreasing in the dipole parts, it is
increasing in the non-dipole parts, and the
overall strength of the magnetic field is
staying roughly the same.
However, data from the International
Geomagnetic Reference Field shows that
from 1970-2000 the dipole part of the
magnetic field lost 235 billion megajoules of
energy, while the non-dipole parts gained
only 129 billion megajoules.
Overall the net loss from all parts of the
magnetic field was 1.4% in 30 years. At this
rate the field would lose half of its energy
every 1465 years. These numbers are
consistent with the measurements we
mentioned earlier and show that the earth
has to be less than 10,000 years old.
While there is much evidence for a young
earth, remember, it is still a new area of
research (which is encouraging that we’ve
found so much already.)
Memory Verse
Proverbs 4:7 “Wisdom is the principal
thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all
your getting, get understanding.”