Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Habitable zone - Controversy

You may or may not be aware of a discussion with an atheist named Ryan Anderson regarding the fact that he believes that Dr Hugh Ross is wrong when he wrote:

"If the Earth were one half of one percent closer to the sun, water on Earth would boil off. If the Earth were one half of one percent farther from the sun, all the water would freeze." (More Than A Theory)

However the statement does not exist in More Than A Theory. He attributes the quote to have been made on then John Ankerberg show, but I wonder if he saw it because the following book references the same thing:
Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism By David Mills on page 250. You can read the exchange om my post: Faithful Thinkers: Audio: Major Creation/Evolution Models

Unfortunately, Anderson took things way to far alleging that Ross is dishonest and worst or doesn't know what he is talking about at best (about the Habitable zone and Creation/Evolution models). Anderson commented the following:

Also, it should be noted that as far as I know, Hugh Ross has never backed away from his absurd claim that "If the earth were 0.5% closer to the sun it would broil and if it was 0.5% farther from the sun it would freeze." [paraphrase]. The only reason I can think of for someone with a "PhD" to make such a clearly demonstratably false claim is to mislead. But that's par for the course with creationist, regardless of their "camp".

And today he said:

Actually, if you make an assertion that's wildly outside the range of what is currently thought to be the case, you have an obligation to substantiate that assertion.

He's [Dr Hugh Ross] actually a good example of why, as a layman, one should look for consensus among scientist rather than looking at one scientist. There are bad ones in every profession. But you of course will only look at the scientist that support the positions you want to believe.

Yes, indeed it is important to look at the balance of consensus among experts to determine if something is true or not. However we know that consensus does not always equal truth. There was once a consensus that the Earth was flat. And another that the whole universe revolved around the Earth. But the value of consensus is not issue now. Let's see if with simple back of the envelope calculation if we can figure out if  Dr Ross is wrong in the numbers he is proposing. First the Habitable zone is the range of distance from sun in which the earth retains liquid water. Any closer the water boils and evaporates. Farther and the water freezes.  The distance of the Earth to the Sun is called an Astronomical Unit (AU) which is about 93 x 106 (93 million) miles. For the sake of this calculation I am approximating the earth's orbit as a circle although it is elliptical. I am also taking the range of the Habitable Zone from the following Wikipedia page:

Habitable zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


INNER edge OUTER edge References Notes
0.725 AU 1.24 AU Dole 1964 [18] Used optically thin atmospheres and fixed albedos.
0.95 AU 1.01 AU Hart et al. 1978, 1979 [19] stars K0 or later cannot have HZs
0.95 AU 3.0 AU Fogg 1992 [20] Used Carbon cycles.
0.95 AU 1.37 AU Kasting et al. 1993 [21]
1%–2% farther out Budyko 1969 [22] ... and Earth would have global glaciation.
1%–2% farther out Sellers 1969 [23] ... and Earth would have global glaciation.
1%–2% farther out North 1975 [24] ... and Earth would have global glaciation.
4%–7% closer Rasool & DeBurgh 1970 [25] ... and oceans would never have condensed.
Schneider and Thompson 1980 [26] disagreed with Hart.
Kasting 1991 [27]
Kasting 1988 [28] Water clouds can shrink HZ as they counter GHG effect with higher albedos.
Ramanathan and Collins 1991 [29] GHG effect IR trapping is greater than water cloud albedo cooling, and Venus would have to have started "Dry."
Lovelock 1991 [30]
Whitemire et al. 1991 [31]

Let's take the Hart et al. 1978, 1979 reference of 0.95 AU  to 1.01 AU  for the range of the Habitable Zone. Imagine 3 concentric circles. Then inner one has a Radius of 0.95 AU, the middle has a radius of  1 AU and the outer has a radius of  1.01AU.


So what is the distance from the earth's orbit to the inner boundary of the habitable zone?

1 - 0.95 =  0.05  meaning 0.05 AU

What about from the earth to the outer boundary of the habitable zone?

1.01 - 1 = 0.01 - meaning 0.01 AU

If you want to know percentages of AU you take the differences and divide them by AU. This gives  - 0.05 and  + 0.01 .

This is well within the consensus of 0.725 AU to 3 AU. We know that any number anyone grabs from the air is an estimate and an approximation - averages. Not wrong, but nothing to assassinate a man's character over. It is obvious that Dr Ross is using Habitable Zone ranges like 0.99 AU and 1.01 AU.Again: well within the consensus range. Ryan Anderson claims to be a layman yet feels like he knows enough to criticize a professional astronomer. Anyone who knows something about Physics and published numbers know that such nitpicking is silly.
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“The Ledge” movie compliments Christianity - National Messianic Jewish | Examiner.com

Mariano has posted an article about the upcoming movie "The Ledge". He wrote:

By the way, no, fundamentalist does not mean that he is concerned with the basics, the fundamentals of the Christian faith but rather that he is a stuck up, domineering jerk. This movie was directed by the activist atheist Matthew Chapman who stated “My hope was to make an emotional appeal.” Indeed, what else does he had with which to work?

Indeed what else is there? Kind of feel sorry for Chapman and atheists in general. Read Mariano's whole article at the link


“The Ledge” movie compliments Christianity - National Messianic Jewish | Examiner.com
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Response | Reflections

Dr Kenneth Samples reviews Harry Potter and talks about the Philosophy in the Harry Potter franchise and how to respond from a Christian point of view.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Response | Reflections
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OMG WANT: Jetlev r200 Water-Powered Jet Pack [New Video]




OMG WANT: Jetlev r200 Water-Powered Jet Pack [New Video]
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The Philistines: Bible Bad Guys | Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament

Dr Mariottini has posted a great video showing new archaeological for the Philistines! Cool!



Click Here


The Philistines: Bible Bad Guys | Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament
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FacePalm of the Day #104 - 'God the Father' banished by mainline denomination

The United Church of Christ is attempting to change it's wording in its organizational documents. For example look at this.


 The reason?


Denomination spokeswoman Barb Powell told WND today that the change was made because the reference to "heavenly Father" was too restrictive.
"In the UCC, our language for God, Christ and the Holy Spirit … is preferred to be more open for different expressions of the Trinity," she said. "Heavenly Father is just one vision."
She told WND the denomination seeks to be "inclusive" in its language, "so therefore we will tend to change language that is more traditional to be more inclusive."
She said some of the denomination's pastors refer to God with terms such as "Creator" and "Father and Mother."
"There are a lot of people who decided, if God still is speaking to us, there is more light and truth to break forth," she said.

The reason why Christians shouldn't change it is because the Bible uses that language. The problem was called out by David Runnion-Bareford. He said:

"Rejecting God as Father in an age of fatherlessness is unthinkable," said David Runnion-Bareford, a leader of the fellowship organization. "God acted toward us in amazing grace when He offered to be our Father through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ who offers us life in his name.
"This is not something we as humans made up in some other time. Rejecting our Father is [an] act of arrogant rebellion in the name of cultural conformity that only further alienates members, churches, but more importantly God himself."
I'm glad God has put people in the Unite Church of Christ to stand against such heresy. The denomination is very broad and have a wide variety of viewpoints. The article talks a lot about Jeremiah Wright and the way his church embraces Black Liberation Theology. I really dislike Black Liberation Theology because it is not Jesus centered. You can read my post on Black Liberation Theology,

'God the Father' banished by mainline denomination
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