Claim CH401:
A "vapor canopy" (water vapor above the troposphere) was the source for
much of the flood waters.
Source:
Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Green Forest, AR: Master
Books, pp. 124-125,210-211.
Response:
- There is no way to hold up a vapor canopy of any great extent. (It
could orbit, like the rings of Saturn, but that would not cover the
earth like a canopy.)
- If the canopy began as vapor, any water from it would be superheated.
This scenario essentially starts with most of the Flood waters boiled
off. If the water began as ice in orbit, the gravitational potential
energy would likewise raise the temperature past boiling. When the
canopy fell to form the Flood, everything on earth would be poached.
If the canopy began as solid ice in orbit above the atmosphere, its
gravitational potential energy would be converted to heat as it fell,
superheating the atmosphere well beyond the ability of any life to
survive (Brown 1995, 175).
- A vapor canopy before the Flood would have made
the earth
unliveable. The greenhouse effect would have raised temperatures
extremely. If a canopy holding the equivalent to more than 40 feet of
water were part of the atmosphere, it would raise the atmospheric
pressure accordingly, raising oxygen and nitrogen levels to toxic
levels.
Links:
Farrar, Paul, and Bill Hyde, n.d. The vapor canopy hypothesis holds no
water. http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/canopy.html
Brown, Walt, 1995. In the Beginning: Compelling evidence for creation and
the Flood. Phoenix, AZ: Center for Scientific Creation, pp. 174-179.
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/
References:
- Brown, Walt, 1995. (see above)
created 2003-4-18, modified 2004-4-12