| Evolution in the News - October 2014 |
| by Do-While Jones |
Is the water on Earth really older than the Sun?
| Up to about half of the water on our planet is older than the sun, according to a paper 1 published on Thursday in the journal Science. 2 |
We can just imagine creationists saying smugly, “Of course it is! Water was made on Day 2 of creation week; the Sun was created on Day 4!”
Evolution requires the spontaneous origin of life (which presumably requires water) and a very long time for species to transform themselves into other species. This paper in Science, reported by Time magazine, is just one of many examples of how “science” is perverted to try to prove that there must be water on other planets; and furthermore that the Earth, and other planets, are old enough for evolution to occur.
We aren’t going to tell you anything you don’t already know. You know that water is H2O—two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. You also know that carbon dioxide is CO2—one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. You know that when a plant absorbs water through its roots, and carbon dioxide through its leaves, it breaks the water and carbon dioxide molecules apart so that it can use the hydrogen and carbon to build sugars, fats, and other organic compounds generally referred to as “hydrocarbons” because they are big molecules made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms.
What may not have occurred to you (and must not have occurred to the scientists who published the article, and the scientists who reviewed it) is that when this happens, the water molecule is destroyed. Countless water molecules are being destroyed every second by all the vegetation on Earth.
Fear not! Animals eat the vegetation, and digest the fats and sugars. They inhale oxygen, which is combined with the hydrogen and carbon in the fats and sugars to produce water and carbon dioxide, which the blood carries to the lungs, where it is exhaled. So, all the animals on Earth are constantly exhaling new water molecules. On a cold day, when you can see your breath, you can actually see the brand new water molecules your body created just a few seconds earlier. These water molecules are much younger than the Sun.
When a forest fire burns trees, the fire breaks down the hydrocarbons in the trees by combining them with oxygen. This produces carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, soot (that is, carbon), and steam (that is, water). Even the rotting vegetation is constantly producing new water molecules as the plant matter breaks down.
With all those water molecules constantly being broken apart and reconstructed, it is hard to believe that very many, if any, of the water molecules on Earth have escaped the liquid equivalent of death and resurrection. Fresh water really is fresh—it isn’t older than the Sun.
Since we are so kind and charitable, let’s assume that Time magazine really meant to say, “Up to about half of the hydrogen atoms on our planet are older than the sun.” That doesn’t make sense, either. According to the Big Bang Theory, nothing existed until time, space, and hydrogen atoms suddenly sprang into existence for no apparent reason. Those hydrogen atoms supposedly clumped together to form stars, some of which exploded, creating heavier elements which formed planets, including the Earth. If the Big Bang is true, ALL (not “up to about half”) of the hydrogen atoms in the universe are older than the Sun.
Here’s why Time magazine says it is important to believe that water is older than the sun.
|
So, if water can survive a star’s birthing process, and if other solar systems in the universe formed much like ours did, that means that water might be a common ingredient in the making of other planets far from our own. “By identifying the ancient heritage of Earth’s water, we can see that the way in which our solar system was formed will not be unique, and that exoplanets will form in environments with abundant water,” said Tim Harries, a professor at the University of Exeter’s Physics and Astronomy Department, in England, and an author of the paper, in a statement. “Consequently,” he said, “it raises the possibility that some exoplanets could house the right conditions, and water resources, for life to evolve.” 3 |
(Just an aside to all our critics who say the origin of life is not part of the theory of evolution, please read that last sentence again.)
Supposing “water can survive a star’s birthing process,” and supposing “other solar systems in the universe formed much like ours did,” and supposing “water might be a common ingredient in the making of other planets,” that’s an awful lot of supposition—not science! How do they know?
We quoted their really obtuse explanation in this month’s feature article, 4 so we won’t repeat it again. Here’s how Time simply explained it.
|
To find out if the water from that dust cloud made it to Earth, researchers measured the ratio of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen to hydrogen. The findings show that heavy hydrogen levels on Earth are higher than they would have been in the protoplanetary disk. That means that some of our water must predate the sun, when heavy hydrogen was in abundance. 5 |
How do they know how much heavy hydrogen was in the protoplanetary disk? How do they even know there was a protoplanetary disk? They don’t know. They just believe a story that somebody made up to explain how everything came to be. It’s not science—it’s speculation.
| Quick links to | |
|---|---|
| Science Against Evolution Home Page |
Back issues of Disclosure (our newsletter) |
| Web Site of the Month |
Topical Index |
Footnotes:
1
Cleeves, et al., Science, 26 September 2014, “The ancient heritage of water ice in the solar system”, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1258055
2
Elizabeth Barber, Time, 26 September, 2014, “A Lot of Earth’s Water Is Actually Older Than the Sun”, http://time.com/3431564/earth-water-older-than-sun-university-of-exeter-tim-harries/?xid=newsletter-brief
3
ibid.
4
Disclosure, October 2014, “Radiometric Dating”
5
Elizabeth Barber, Time, 26 September, 2014, “A Lot of Earth’s Water Is Actually Older Than the Sun”, http://time.com/3431564/earth-water-older-than-sun-university-of-exeter-tim-harries/?xid=newsletter-brief