The Nochian Flood Part 5: Caused by a Comet?
Where did all the water come from to make the flood? One creationist theory is that it came from a comet.
When you pick a rock off the ground you have to expend energy to lift it, and the rock gains gravitational potential energy (GPE). Let go of the rock, and it falls; it loses GPE, but gains kinetic energy because it is moving. It will also warm up due to air resistence. The First Law of Thermodynamics tells us energy is conserved, so as the rock drops and loses GPE, all that energy must be converted to kinetic energy and heat, and when the rock lands ultimately all the kinetic energy will be converted to heat too. GPE can be calculated from:
GPE = m x g x h
... where m is the mass, g is the acceleration due to gravity and h is the height.
If the rock weighs 1 kg (m=1), and falls 1 m (h=1), and at the Earth's surface the acceleration due to gravity is approximately 10 m/s/s (g=10) then it must lose this much energy:
GPE = m x g x h = 1 x 1 x 10 = 10 kJ
Ultimately all that energy is heat in the environment.
If you drop the rock from space, the calculation is a bit more complicated, because the acceleration due to gravity various as it falls:
g = G x M/r x r
... where G is the gravitational constant, M the mass of the Earth, and r the distance from the rock to the centre of the Earth
However, we can look up the escape velocity for Earth. This is the speed the rock would have to be traveling if it is to have enough energy to escape from Earth, or conversely the speed it would be traveling at when it crashes to Earth after falling from space (ignoring air resistance).
The escape velocity for Earth is 11 200 m/s, so a 1 kg rock falling to Earth would be traveling at 11 200 m/s when it hit the surface, and at that point it would have kinetic energy of:
E = m x v x v = 1 x 11200 x 11200 = 125440000 kJ
So when the rock was in space it had GPE of 125440000 kJ, just before impact it had a kinetic energy of 125440000 kJ, and shortly after impact there will be 125440000 kJ of heat energy.
I said we were ignoring air resistence, but in fact that makes no difference. Some energy is lost as air resistance, but that generates heat, and from the law of conservation of energy, the heat generated by air resistance plus the heat generated at impact from the slightly reduced velocity must total 125440000 k.
The important point to emphasise here is that if you have 1 kg of something going from space to the surface of Earth the laws on nature say you must also be losing 125 440 000 kJ of GPE, and you must ultimately gain 125 440 000 kJ of heat energy.
It does not matter whether the water is coming down through a hole in the ozone layer, or falling uniformly across the planet, you still end up with all that heat energy.
If your falling water starts at absolute zero (and it is reasonable to suppose it is not far off that), it will take 3 597 kJ to heat each kg to boiling point, an insignificant fraction of the 125 440 000 kJ per kg you have available. If a large comet fell to Earth, if it reached the surface, the energy released on impact would be enough to instantly vapourise the entire thing.
It is worth noting that the asteroid that fell in Siberia in 1908 managed to completely vapourise even before it reached the surface. That was rock, not water, please note.
Water falling from space simply will not just hit the planet and form a flood; it will be far, far too hot to do that
Okay, so if we assume the water turned to vapour, could it then rain and thus cause a flood?
Let us suppose 1017 tonnes of water are required (that is a 1 with 17 zeros after it), around a tenth of water in the oceans now. I am dubious that is enough for a global flood, but it just might be.
When this hits the Earth, it will necessarily produce 1017 tonnes of superheated steam. Bear in mind that the total mass of the atmosphere is only 5x1015 tonnes, so an extra 1017 tonnes will increase the air pressure to 20 times its normal value. The atmosphere will be 95% superheated steam! You do not need a flood, the temperature and the pressure will be enough to destroy all living things
And no ark made of gopher wood is going to save you.
When you pick a rock off the ground you have to expend energy to lift it, and the rock gains gravitational potential energy (GPE). Let go of the rock, and it falls; it loses GPE, but gains kinetic energy because it is moving. It will also warm up due to air resistence. The First Law of Thermodynamics tells us energy is conserved, so as the rock drops and loses GPE, all that energy must be converted to kinetic energy and heat, and when the rock lands ultimately all the kinetic energy will be converted to heat too. GPE can be calculated from:
GPE = m x g x h
... where m is the mass, g is the acceleration due to gravity and h is the height.
If the rock weighs 1 kg (m=1), and falls 1 m (h=1), and at the Earth's surface the acceleration due to gravity is approximately 10 m/s/s (g=10) then it must lose this much energy:
GPE = m x g x h = 1 x 1 x 10 = 10 kJ
Ultimately all that energy is heat in the environment.
If you drop the rock from space, the calculation is a bit more complicated, because the acceleration due to gravity various as it falls:
g = G x M/r x r
... where G is the gravitational constant, M the mass of the Earth, and r the distance from the rock to the centre of the Earth
However, we can look up the escape velocity for Earth. This is the speed the rock would have to be traveling if it is to have enough energy to escape from Earth, or conversely the speed it would be traveling at when it crashes to Earth after falling from space (ignoring air resistance).
The escape velocity for Earth is 11 200 m/s, so a 1 kg rock falling to Earth would be traveling at 11 200 m/s when it hit the surface, and at that point it would have kinetic energy of:
E = m x v x v = 1 x 11200 x 11200 = 125440000 kJ
So when the rock was in space it had GPE of 125440000 kJ, just before impact it had a kinetic energy of 125440000 kJ, and shortly after impact there will be 125440000 kJ of heat energy.
I said we were ignoring air resistence, but in fact that makes no difference. Some energy is lost as air resistance, but that generates heat, and from the law of conservation of energy, the heat generated by air resistance plus the heat generated at impact from the slightly reduced velocity must total 125440000 k.
The important point to emphasise here is that if you have 1 kg of something going from space to the surface of Earth the laws on nature say you must also be losing 125 440 000 kJ of GPE, and you must ultimately gain 125 440 000 kJ of heat energy.
It does not matter whether the water is coming down through a hole in the ozone layer, or falling uniformly across the planet, you still end up with all that heat energy.
If your falling water starts at absolute zero (and it is reasonable to suppose it is not far off that), it will take 3 597 kJ to heat each kg to boiling point, an insignificant fraction of the 125 440 000 kJ per kg you have available. If a large comet fell to Earth, if it reached the surface, the energy released on impact would be enough to instantly vapourise the entire thing.
It is worth noting that the asteroid that fell in Siberia in 1908 managed to completely vapourise even before it reached the surface. That was rock, not water, please note.
Water falling from space simply will not just hit the planet and form a flood; it will be far, far too hot to do that
Okay, so if we assume the water turned to vapour, could it then rain and thus cause a flood?
Let us suppose 1017 tonnes of water are required (that is a 1 with 17 zeros after it), around a tenth of water in the oceans now. I am dubious that is enough for a global flood, but it just might be.
When this hits the Earth, it will necessarily produce 1017 tonnes of superheated steam. Bear in mind that the total mass of the atmosphere is only 5x1015 tonnes, so an extra 1017 tonnes will increase the air pressure to 20 times its normal value. The atmosphere will be 95% superheated steam! You do not need a flood, the temperature and the pressure will be enough to destroy all living things
And no ark made of gopher wood is going to save you.
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