Difference between revisions of "Counterexamples to an Old Earth"
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* The [[Earth]]'s [[magnetism]] is changing at too fast a rate for the Earth to be old. The Earth's magnetic field is weakening in strength by 5% every 100 years<ref>[http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/tour/AAmag.html Earth's Magnetic Field and its Changes in Time], from [[NASA]]</ref>. [[Exponential decay]] at that rate is not compatible with an old Earth, since it would have required the Earth's magnetic field to be impossibly large at the times postulated by old-Earth theory. | * The [[Earth]]'s [[magnetism]] is changing at too fast a rate for the Earth to be old. The Earth's magnetic field is weakening in strength by 5% every 100 years<ref>[http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/tour/AAmag.html Earth's Magnetic Field and its Changes in Time], from [[NASA]]</ref>. [[Exponential decay]] at that rate is not compatible with an old Earth, since it would have required the Earth's magnetic field to be impossibly large at the times postulated by old-Earth theory. | ||
* the existence of inland salt-water lakes, such as [[Mono Lake]] and the [[Great Salt Lake]], suggest a recent global [[flood]] | * the existence of inland salt-water lakes, such as [[Mono Lake]] and the [[Great Salt Lake]], suggest a recent global [[flood]] | ||
| + | * the age of onset of sexual maturity is rapidly changing, suggesting that life is in a short-term rather than long-term equilibrium<ref>For evidence of a rapidly changing age for sexual maturity in fish, see http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/46/3/235</ref> | ||
== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 15:39, December 26, 2009
It takes only one "counterexample" to disprove the theory of an Old Earth. As with any logical proposition, one contradiction disproves the proposed rule.
Potential counterexamples to the theory of an Old Earth include:
- the moon is receding from the Earth at a rate suggesting it would have been too close billions of years ago
- spiral galaxies appear to be young, and proposals of the existence of dark matter are needed to reconcile them with belief in an old universe
- the massive Great Lakes are receding in volume too rapidly
- freshwater lakes are known to be relatively young[1]
- The Earth's magnetism is changing at too fast a rate for the Earth to be old. The Earth's magnetic field is weakening in strength by 5% every 100 years[2]. Exponential decay at that rate is not compatible with an old Earth, since it would have required the Earth's magnetic field to be impossibly large at the times postulated by old-Earth theory.
- the existence of inland salt-water lakes, such as Mono Lake and the Great Salt Lake, suggest a recent global flood
- the age of onset of sexual maturity is rapidly changing, suggesting that life is in a short-term rather than long-term equilibrium[3]
References
- ↑ Ice Age theories were developed to explain this, but massive freshwater lakes exist even near the equator
- ↑ Earth's Magnetic Field and its Changes in Time, from NASA
- ↑ For evidence of a rapidly changing age for sexual maturity in fish, see http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/46/3/235