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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2004
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Claim CE101:

Based on measured rates of planetary dust accumulation, there is too little moon dust for an old moon. Before the moon landings, there was considerable fear that astronauts would sink in the dust.

Source:

Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Green Forest, AR: Master Books, p. 152.

Response:

  1. The high number for dust accumulation (14 million tons per year on earth) comes from the high end of a single preliminary measurement that has long been obsolete. Other higher estimates come from even more obsolete sources, although they are sometimes incorrectly cited as being more recent. The actual influx is about 22,000 to 44,000 tons per year on earth and around 840 tons per year on the moon.

    The story that scientists worried about astronauts sinking in moon dust is a total fabrication. As early as 1965, scientists were confident, based on optical properties of the moon's surface, that dust was not extensive. Surveyor I, in May 1966, confirmed this.

Links:

Thompson, Tim, 1996. Meteorite dust and the age of the earth. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/moon-dust.html

Matson, Dave E., 1994. How good are those young-earth arguments? http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hovind/howgood-yea.html#proof2

Further Reading:

Thompson, Tim, n.d. Is the Earth young?, http://www.tim-thompson.com/young-earth.html
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created 2000-7-29