The Bing Bang got so many things right? HUH House to House

 Since it is but a mindless, accidental, evolutionary process, it is amazing how many things the Big Bang got right. It mananged to create (oops, produce) conditions for life to exist on Planet Earth. Earth is the only planet in our solar system that can sustain life as we know it. It has many unusual and unique conditions required before human life could exist. No doubt evolution is right in concluding that human life exists by chance, not design.

 Consider the wonder of Big Bang! 

THE EARTH IS THE RIGHT DISTANCE FROM THE SUN 

We are just the right distance from the sun so that we get the right amount of heat to sustain life. Energy is needed to fuel chemical reactions (metabolism). Liquid water allows chemicals to be transported or dissolved, so water must be between 59 and 239 degrees Fahrenheit so it does not vaporize or freeze.2

 Ten percent closer, too hot; ten percent farther, too cold. Planets from Mars to Neptune are too cold to support life. Though the moon is relatively close to earth, its surface temperature varies each fifteen lunar days from a high of 214 degrees Fahrenheit above zero, to a low of 243 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.

 THE EARTH’S ROTATION IS THE RIGHT SPEED 

The earth rotates eastward once every 24 hours. It rotates counter clockwise (from perspective of the North Star). If the earth’s rotation were 1/10 its present rate, the length of days and nights would increase ten times. Vegetation would burn up during the long days; if not, the low night temperatures would kill any plant life that survived the day.

 THE EARTH IS THE RIGHT SIZE 

The radius of the earth is 3963 miles at the equator. Its circumference is nearly 125,000 miles. Its surface is 197 million square miles. This produces a gravitational force of 15 pounds per square inch. 

If the earth were the size of the moon, its gravity would only be 1/6 its present force and unable to hold either atmosphere or water. If its diameter were doubled, the force of gravity would be doubled, and the atmosphere would be compressed. If the earth were increased to the size of the sun, while retaining its density, gravity would increase 150 times. This would increase atmospheric pressure to over a ton per square inch. Life would be virtually impossible under such conditions. It is good that the Big Bang got it right.

 EARTH HAS BOTH WATER AND CARBON 

Water and carbon are required for life. Carbon is a necessary building block for complex organic molecules. Water is necessary for many chemical reactions. If the earth were once part of the sun, why didn’t the water evaporate? How did the Big Bang pull that off? Impressive. 

EARTH’S CRUST IS THE RIGHT THICKNESS 

The earth’s outer layer is three to five miles thick under the oceans and 25 or more miles thick under the continents. If the earth’s crust were only ten feet thicker, the metallic elements in the crust would combine with the free oxygen in the atmosphere, ruling out the possibility of animal life. If the oceans were merely a few feet deeper, they would absorb so much carbon dioxide from the air that plants could not exist. Less than twenty feet tolerance on twenty miles? Amazing!

 EARTH’S MOON IS THE RIGHT DISTANCE AWAY 

The moon is on average about 239,000 miles from earth. Its gravitational pull creates the oceans’ tides, which, among other things, scrub its beaches twice daily. If the moon were only 50,000 miles away, tides would submerge the continents twice a day. The Big Bang thought ahead and got it right the first time. 

EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE IS THE RIGHT THICKNESS AND DENSITY 

Atmosphere protects life by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), creating pressure to keep water on the surface, and reducing temperature extremes between day and night.3 The density and thickness of the earth’s atmosphere serves as a protective blanket to shield it from deadly radiation. If radiation reached the earth, human life could not exist. UV light can damage or break complex molecules, causing mutations. Our atmosphere is just dense enough to protect the earth from the twenty million meteors that enter it daily. These meteors, traveling at speeds of about thirty miles per second, would endanger all life on earth’s surface. The Big Bang thought of everything! 

 THE COMPOSITION OF THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE IS PERFECT TO SUSTAIN LIFE 

Dry air is about 78 parts nitrogen, 21 parts oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide and small amounts of other gases. Too much nitrogen would slow down all functions of the body so that death would result. Too much oxygen would increase the body’s functions to a pace that life could not be sustained long term. It is highly unlikely that this mixture could have developed accidently since most accidents involving chemicals result in explosions. This is especially true of nitrogen, which is the basic ingredient in explosives. Thankfully, the Big Bang knew about explosions and was able to avoid this danger.

 THE TILT OF THE EARTH IS RIGHT 

The earth is tilted on its axis 23 1/2 degrees. This tilting, plus the revolution around the sun, creates earth’s seasons. In most places on earth, this gives a healthy balance of time—spring/summer to raise necessary food, and fall/winter for the soil to lie idle, soak up moisture, and increase in fertility. We have much for which to thank the Big Bang. Or, maybe, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), and, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

 Endnotes: 1 Some of these ideas are adapted from Dr. A. Crescy Morrison’s book, Man Does Not Stand Alone. 2 http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2013/10/Astrobiology-Educator-Guide-2007.pdf. 

The Folly of attributing desing to randomness

    Allen Webster