by Blog Administrator
{The photo above is a half scale replica of Noah's Arc built in the Netherlands by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers
as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible. The Ark
is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds
the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.
Photos and captions courtesy of various news and information sources
-Ed.}
The bible indicates that a great flood was initiated by God because the earth was filled with violence and blood. (Gen 6)
There are historical accounts of a great cataclysmic flood in many cultures admitted by secular historians. The legend of Gilgamesh
describes the great flood as recorded in Indian folklore. Although
secular historians discount the flood as nothing more than a myth
perpetuated in folklore, there is much physical evidence apart from the
bible that affirms the great flood.
40 days and 40 nights: The biblical account maintains that the great flood was initiated by rain for 40 days and 40 nights and that the fountains of the deep
were opened. The rain would have been driven by the fountains of the
deep erupting into the atmosphere from a cataclysmic event such as an
earthquake. A Mid-ocean ridge traversing the earth like the seams of a baseball suggests that a fault in the earth's crust released this pressurized water.
The earth's tilt and/or wobble was likely altered from the huge mass
of water now accumulating on the earth's surface, resulting in dramatic
climate change after the flood.
Photo: Working Replica of Noah's Ark Opened In SCHAGEN, Netherlands
The resulting flood depth may be estimated by a simple calculation. The total known water on earth is 1.4 billion cubic kilometers or 4.592E18 ft3 (cubic feet) of water. The earth's surface area can be estimated from 4/3 Pi(r)2, where r= earth's radius.
Then 4/3 * (3.14) * (2.089E07 ft)2 = 1.827 E15 ft2 (Sq. Feet). The maximum flood water height attainable is then: 4.592E18 ft3/1.827 E15 ft2 = 2513 ft. So the water depth during the flood could not exceed 2513 ft
and must be near the maximum depth after 150 days by the Genesis
account. The height of the pre-flood mountains was therefore 2500 ft or
less.
The earth before the flood was not 75% water as it is today. The bible
only mentions one sea in which the four rivers leaving the garden of
Eden, emptied, i.e. Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates. The release
of water from the fountains of the deep would create massive change in
the earth's surface, pushing up huge uplifts and creating vast sea
trenches. The Isthmus of Panama
is evidence of tectonic plate shift created by flood post trauma in
which billions of tons of water were released under pressure.
"Contrary to previous evidence..the Isthmus of Panama
was most likely formed by a Central American Peninsula colliding slowly
with the South American continent through tectonic plate movement [during and after a great flood].. The
canal's maintenance also exposes sediment layers and marine animal
fossils, as well as strata of rocks and clay specific to numerous
environments, including lagoon, delta, swamp, woodland and dry tropical
forest."
This is the expected progression of the land as the great floodwaters
continued to abate. So the higher mountains that we observe today would
have been created during and after the great flood.
Preflood
seawater composition was very different, only mildly salty compared to
35,000 ppm salinity today. The evolutionary account of origin also makes
a similar claim for mild salinity in the early oceans: "
In
the beginning the primeval seas must have been only slightly salty. But
ever since the first rains descended upon the young Earth hundreds of millions of years ago [or thousands of years ago as in a great flood]
and ran over the land breaking up rocks and transporting their minerals to the seas,
the ocean has become saltier." - Herbert Swenson,
US Geological Survey Publication. So how did the seas get so salty?
Given
the huge underground caverns of salt and other mineral deposits
throughout the earth, water released from beneath the crust, i.e. from
the fountains of the deep, would have passed through many of these beds
on its way to the surface leaching out minerals. Salt and other
dissolvable solids would be picked up by the floodwaters and transported
to the newly created seas. It likely took centuries for the salt levels
to attain their present day levels as opposed to evolutionists' claim
of 'millions of years'.
Periodic melting of the polar icecaps causes certain regions of the oceans to be less salty.
The materials contained in
seawater are consistent with known mineral deposits across the globe and provides good support for the bible's account.
The flood not only accounts for the origin of the oceans but also of the rich petroleum deposits we find today.
Oil is formed from the remains of tiny plants and animals (
plankton) that died in ancient seas
between 10 million and 600 million years ago during a great flood. After the organisms died, they sank into the sand and mud at the bottom of the sea.
Bacteria
acting in the underground caverns where dead animals and plants were
trapped after the floodwaters had abated, produced vast quantities of
crude oil.
Seawater also contains the two most important gases for sustaining life, oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Availability of Food after the flood:
Evolutionists have claimed that there would have been no food available
after the flood because of the salt water. It should be noted that
saltwater isn't always detrimental to plant growth, plants exhibit some
tolerance depending on the degree of salinity. Belgium suffered salt
water flooding of many of their crop fields during the 2nd world war but were still able to grow: "Seawater flooding in Belgium produces bumper Crop"
Supplies
may have been low immediately after disembarking from the ark but
seaweed (kelp) would have been abundant. It's rich in Iodine,
so it could have been eaten by both man (as it is in Japan) and beasts,
a boost to the immune system. Especially helpful in lieu of disease
from contact with human and animal waste in the arc and being near dead
creatures immediately upon leaving the arc.
The bible says: "Make
thee an Arc of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark; and shalt
pitch it within and without with pitch..The length of the arc shall be
300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits." - - Gen 6:v14-15
Photo: A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine. Biblical Scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been
Ark construction and feasibility
The Ark was most likely space frame or Semi-monocoque (hybrid) design
rather than rib and keel construction. This eliminates the hogging
associated with ships like the
USS Constitution not to mention the logistic problems of a 300 cubit (600') keel.
No
one knows what gopher wood is today. Several ideas have been put forth
suggesting that it might be some form of laminated construction material
or simply pitch saturated wood. If the latter, then why state the
double requirement for pitch "within and without"? Would not
the term 'gopher' itself convey that meaning? And, if it's a laminate,
then why isn't it stated as to how the layers are to be developed as God
did when telling Moses on the mount to take care to make all the things
He commanded according to the patterns given?
The fact that gopher wood is not mentioned anywhere else in the flood
account implies that it was a wood well known to the inhabitants of the
time. It may be just another term for a common tree variety today that
fell out of usage after most perished in the flood. Brazilian Ipe {eepay} is a wood known by many different names, some of which are 'Amapa', 'Greenheart', Tahuari'... etc. The unique 'gopher' designation could describe a variety of wood species just as the term 'Santos Mahogany' does.
"Santos Mahogany is
grown in countries all the way from Mexico to Argentina... This rich
species of Mahogany is deep reddish-brown to orange-brown in color in
its heartwood. It is tougher and stronger than typical Genuine Mahogany,
and it wears incredibly well over time. "
If the Arc's dimensions can be taken literally then why not the type of wood? Gopher, like 'Santos Mahogany',
could have grown only in the area where the ark was built. Destroy the
habitat and you destroy the species. Extinction is not unknown in our
own time. The available supply of Gopher wood may have been destroyed
either by the force of the flood, a higher salt-water concentration or
simply an over abundance of water from the ensuing deluge.
The term 'gopher' does not necessarily infer a stronger wood than other
species but perhaps it simply offered superior decay resistance like
Ipe. Ipe resists insects, moisture and rot, highly desirable
characteristics for a construction material during the 100 year long
building of the Arc. Gopher may have been a wood better suited to marine
use, just as one selects maple for building furniture, rather than
cottonwood or elm. Many kinds of wood today are capable of satisfying
the structural loading requirements of the Arc such as Hickory, Teak,
and White oak.
The Arc and its frame would have been constructed with trunnels
or dowel pins made with a hardwood like locust. Although Brazilian Ipe
and Locust woods are difficult to work by hand, they make excellent
fasteners because of their shear resistance 2060 psi and 1760 psi respectively. All wood in and outside the Arc would have been coated with a pitch sealant.
Pitch: a dark oily liquid obtained by distillation of
coal tar, used as a preservative for wood. Pitch contains some 150
different compounds, creosote is one used to preserve wood such as rail
ties. Noah's pitch likely didn't depend on distillation. "There are examples of stave churches that have been preserved with pine tar for nearly a thousand years.."
Photo: Deck not quite ready in time for the opening...
Arc construction began in May of 2005.
Huibers did most of the work himself with his own hands, of course,
using modern tools and with some occasional help from his son Roy.
The bible indicates that there were 3
decks. The door or gangway would have been located at the 2nd deck
elevation, whether in the side or in one of the ends, is still a matter
under consideration. An earthen or wooden ramp would have had to be
built by Noah and his family for the animals to board.
In the real Arc, ramps would have guided the animals to the upper or
lower decks. Noah, his family and smaller animals and birds were likely
on the top deck where the Arc's windows provided light.
Rainwater could have been collected during the 40 days rain depending on
how the Arc's windows were fashioned. The food supply could be
augmented by fishing from an Arc window at either or both ends of the
ship.
The Coelacanth (see-la-kanth) fish "..astonished
ichtyologists..[who] had been convinced that the last coelacanths were
found only off eastern Africa, mainly in the Commoros archipelago. They
had been thought to have died out around the time dinosaurs became
extinct {70 million years ago -Ed.}, until one was found there in 1938. "
Photo: The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark opened for the first crowd of curious townsfolk to behold the wonder.
In Noah's full size Arc, there would be room for
some 35,000 species in small cages not including those that could
survive in the sea.
Animals taken aboard the ark would have likely been very young, despite
the obvious accommodation benefit, they would have longer lives in which
to reproduce and replenish the earth. Small animals and reptiles would
not grow dramatically in one year on the arc and reptiles are known to
go long periods without food. In the dark holds of the ship, the animals
would have spent most of their time sleeping.
The vertebrates would require approximately 146 railroad cars to house
at the smallest 18" cubit dimension and the ark could contain some
500-railroad cars at the smallest dimension of the cubit.
There would be adequate storage space for food and water for each creature.
Photo Rampway similar to what would have been used to guide animals above or below the main deck.
It's calculated that the real Arc drew between 19 to 24 feet of waterline with its cargo and "..all manner of food" and water.
The first deck would have been completely submerged.
Dinosaurs & Man: (Job 40, v15-23 and Job 41, v15-21 ): "..in 1856, French workers
were digging a railway tunnel when something monstrous stumbled towards
them, emerging from a large boulder from the Jurassic period, that they
had just split open... it was examined by a palaeontologist, and identified as a Pterodactyl.."
Evolutionists claim that man experienced a brush with extinction in the
past, which supports the role Noah and his sons had in repopulating the
earth.
'Human line 'nearly split in two': "The
Genographic Project's findings are also consistent with the idea - held
for some years now - that modern humans had a close brush with
extinction in the evolutionary past [Or from a great flood!]. The number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 [or just Noah & his family!] before numbers began to expand again in the Late Stone Age. "
Photo: Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.
Skin color after the flood: (
Acts 8:v27) If
Adam and Eve were Middle Eastern in complexion, all the variations of
man from Caucasian to Negroid could have been passed along to the
generations from this genetic trait through Noah. The people of like
coloration would have tended to separate into like bands or tribes.
Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin.. "In
fact, several scientists said..new work shows just how small a
biological difference is reflected by skin color. The newly found
mutation involves a change of just one letter of DNA code out of the 3.1
billion letters in the human genome -- the complete instructions for
making a human being." Pigmentation Gene - SLC24A5:
The anthropology of race and the discovery of a skin color gene, SLC24A5 ".. researchers
then looked at two different human populations in which people with
European and African ancestors had mixed relatively recently -
African-Americans and African-Caribbeans. They found that, on average,
people with two copies of the European version of the gene had the
lightest skin. People with two copies of the non-European version of the
gene had darker skin, and people with one copy of each version of the
gene had skin color somewhere in between. "
Further Evidence of the great flood: Trees petrified in the aftermath of the flood: CONCLUSION.." The
evidence presented here provides a basis for additional detailed
research that could be done. Such research would be beneficial for our
understanding of these unique fossil deposits. Offhand, the in situ
model would appear to be the simplest and most natural explanation, but
closer examination uncovers features that are difficult to explain for
trees in growth position. A transport model involving the flotation of
trees and organic debris in a body of water, as illustrated in Spirit
Lake, gives a better fit to the data as observed in the Yellowstone
Petrified Forests. We propose that the Yellowstone Petrified Forests
provide an example of catastrophic deposition" as in the onset of a great flood.
"
Now that I am old and Gray...give me the
time to tell This new generation (and their children too) About all your
mighty miracles." (Psalm 71:18 ) The bible says what it means and it means what it says.
Attachments:
Noah's Arc Wind Effects.doc (329KB)
Noah's Arc _HeaveDowelPinEffects5_11_10.doc (154 KB)
Noah'sArcStructuralSummary3_7_11.doc (240KB)
Noah'sArcRollstability12_10_11.doc (116KB)
Comments
Re:Noah's Arc..biblical legend or scientific reality?
by Allen Williams on Sat 27 Jun 2009 10:13 PM CDT | Profile | Permanent Link
There are two planned upgrades in addendum form for Noah's Arc. The
first is a summary of structural calculations on the full size Arc, now
included as Attachment 1. The second is a future update on dynamic
analysis of roll stabiliry under different assumed sea and wave
formations. - Ed.
Re: Re:Noah's Arc..biblical legend or scientific reality?
by Anonymous on Tue 12 Jan 2010 01:32 PM CST | Permanent Link
Arc Statistical tests on Acceleration Data have been added as of 1/12/10 - Ed.
Re:Noah's Arc..Dynamic Roll Resonance analysis
by Allen Williams on Tue 28 Jul 2009 01:16 PM CDT | Profile | Permanent Link
Attachment 2 is the first part of the dynamic analysis of the Arc
under different sea and wave conditions. The first section is roll
resonance in beam sea conditions.
This attachment will be updated as additional simulation results become available
Noah's Arc..Dynamic Heave Resonance analysis
by Anonymous on Sun 03 Jan 2010 01:03 PM CST | Permanent Link
Attachment 2 has now been upgraded to reflect Heave resonance tests
under four distinct sea conditions. It includes acceleration, i.e. dy/dt
effects on structural integrity.
Further sea tests under wind loading conditions are forthcoming as time permits.
Noah's Arc..Coincident Heave and Roll Resonance effects on Dowel Pin Fasteners
by Anonymous on Tue 11 May 2010 09:37 AM CDT | Permanent Link
The Arcs wooden fasteners have been evaluated for Heave and Roll Resonance effects:
In the event of a coincident heave force occurring during some portion
of an Arc roll, additional stress is transmitted to the wooden dowel
fasteners. Although such dowels have been used in the construction of a
wide variety of joints, which resist axial, shear, moment and torsion
forces, the dowel pins are subjected only to axial or shear forces here.
Torsion forces are avoided.
Re:Noah's Arc..biblical legend or scientific reality?
by Anonymous on Sat 18 Feb 2012 09:49 AM CST | Permanent Link
The 'Wind-Sea effects on Arc Arc stability' attachment has been added.
