WATERS  OF  NOAH  

Reply to a "talk.origins" message by a Curious Questioner--

>CQ> Subject: Re: Problems with a Global Flood, Second Edition
>>>??> ...The thing would not have floated.

The ark only had to stay afloat for "an hundred and fifty days" before it "rested" (Whew! :) upon the mountains of ARMENIA. (It was not made of heavier-than-water metal, but water-proofed wood. :)

>>QC> It's not simply a question of floating. Boats have a tendency to roll, especially in high seas as would exist in a global flood, and especially if this isn't a boat but a however-many-cubic-cubits rectangular box...

The ark is NOT a round easy-to-roll boat-shaped vessel, but COFFIN shaped. It measures H=30 x W=50 x L=300 cubits. The waters prevailed "fifteen cubits upward"(Gen.7:20p) on the ark, so it was half in and half out of the water. The length is 6 times greater than the width, and the length is 10 times greater than the height, or 20 times greater than the exposed height. The "covering" kept water out.

Technically, the Bible does not say the ark was made from lumber or boards(plural), but of GOPHER WOOD(singular), a form of redwood. Giant Redwoods typically grow to heights of about 6 to 10 times greater than their widths. They thrive in areas where "recurrent ocean fogs" provide them with high humidity. Obviously the IDEAL (no rain = no erosion) "mist" conditions before the flood could easily have produced specimens greater than 50 cubits in diameter. (Could the ark have been carved from a single felled Gopher tree? :)

WOOD is mainly cellulose, a macromolecule: "The cellulose becomes arranged in long, threadlike fibrils. Cellulose wound in this fashion is as STRONG as an EQUIVALENT thickness of STEEL." (ref. "wood" -Grolier encyl.) (Gopher wood can withstand lotsa STRESS! :)

>CQ> Let me stress what [Name] is saying. There is one stretch of ocean, just north of the Antarctic and just south of Cape Horn ... The wave build-up is incredible. So incredible that it was difficult to impossible for 18th and 19th century sailing vessals to round the Horn in the face of it.

In the "face" of what, Friend? Wind? A SAIL boat can't go directly toward wind, but must tack in a zig zag fashion. If the sail boat stayed within sight of land, the "wave build-up" above the SHALLOW continental shelf near the cape would be far worse than deep ocean waves. Tsunami waves in open ocean are hardly noticeable by ships, but wave amplitude increases as the wave enters shallower water.

>CQ> Now a GLOBAL OCEAN in a universal storm... I'd expect 100-foot waves as the ordinary ones.

Hundred foot high waves with thousands of feet BETWEEN crests in OPEN OCEAN would be barely noticeable. (If the ark was in the "Doldrums" there would be little IF ANY wind-generated waves. :)

The TRUTH is obviously SOMEWHERE "between" the least case scenario creationism view and the WORST evolutionism can conjure up.

("Stars" above people with tunnel vision are holes in a man hole cover! :)

Grace be to them that cherish the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. --Richard

(-6 Please see "(1) Global Flood" message next. Thanks. :)

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