Noah’s Ark could have floated with the weight of 70,000 animals inside, researchers calculate

National Post ^ | 04/04/2014 | Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph

[SeekAndFind]

Noah’s Ark could have floated even with two of every land animal in the world packed inside, scientists have calculated.

Although researchers are unsure if all the creatures could have squeezed into the huge vessel, they are confident it would have handled the weight of 70,000 animals without sinking.

A group of master’s students from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Leicester University studied the exact dimensions of the Ark, set out in Genesis 6:13-22.

According to The Bible, God instructed Noah to build a boat that was 300 cubits long 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high — recommending that it be constructed from gopher wood. The students averaged out the Egyptian and Hebrew cubit measurement to come up with 48 centimetres, making the Ark around 144 metres long.

Using those dimensions, the Archimedes principle of buoyancy and the approximate weight of various animals, they were surprised to discover that the Ark could have floated.

Benjamin Jordan, 21, a student from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said: “Using the dimensions of the Ark and the density of the water, we were able to calculate its buoyancy force, which, according to Archimedes’s principle, is equal to the weight of the volume of fluid the object displaces. This meant we were then able to estimate the total mass the Ark could support before the gravitational weight would overcome the buoyancy force, causing the Ark to sink.”

[Argus]

How do you get two by two out of seven? There’s one left over.

[cloudmountain]

Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.
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It would have taken his family 500 years to build the craft... makes sense.

==============================================

The problem with that is the first planks put in would have already ROTTED away long before the 500 years needed to build it.

What? Did Noah have the "rock people" working hard for him?

[OneWingedShark]

Speaking of, how would they explain the animals not attacking & killing each other?

Not a physics problem; more the purview of theology.

Did they include in their calculations the additional thousands of pounds of waste & food?

The waste is easy: dump it overboard — not only this, but that would make the boat lighter over the course of the voyage as it would be expelling mass from the system.

As for the food, see Gen 6:21
"As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them."
So, if you're going to calculate using the given dimensions of construction-instructions, you cannot reject the instruction to carry foodstuffs, too. (There is no record of how much food that was.)

[Theo]

Biblical ignorance on parade.

First, there was no concept of “species” in the days of Noah. There were “kinds” — which is different from “species”. I suppose we could think of “kinds” as more like a “genus” than a “species” ... but regardless, since the days of Noah, the various species of creatures has expanded, not as evolution proposes, but as creation science proposes. See the Orchard model discussed here: http://creation.com/refuting-evolution-chapter-2-variation-and-natural-selection-versus-evolution

Second, there were not simply two of every land animal onboard the ark. There were *seven* of every kind of clean land animal onboard.

[I want the USA back]

Taking the story literally is not a good idea.

I eagerly await the flaming.

[YukonGreen]

God brought the various animals to the ark and God protected each species he created while on the ark

[OneWingedShark]

There are about 900 breeds of cattle in the world, 400 breeds of dogs, 100 of cats, just to name a few common animals.

It didn't say breed, it said 'kind' — thus only one dog-type would be needed, only one cat-type, etc.
(Moreover, many of these breeds are new and the result of breeding programs.)

[Salamander]

^This^

[OneWingedShark]

The problem with that is the first planks put in would have already ROTTED away long before the 500 years needed to build it.

Well, unless he was sealing it, inside and out, as he built it.

[Loud Mime]

If God created all the creatures from nothing, couldn’t the miracle be repeated? Even as a child, the Ark made no sense to me.

[terycarl]

Did they include in their calculations the additional thousands of pounds of waste & food? Speaking of, how would they explain the animals not attacking & killing each other?

suspended animation....God can do anything !!

[Lou Budvis]

I think there was a giant flood event and that a holy man possibly named Noah got his family and livestock to higher ground. He may have even built a boat and thrown some sheep and chickens in it. Beyond that...

[Jack of all Trades]

Then how did the various breeds survive?

[patriot08]

Why couldn’t he have left the bugs off?

[Resettozero]

I think there was a giant flood event and that a holy man possibly named Noah got his family and livestock to higher ground. He may have even built a boat and thrown some sheep and chickens in it. Beyond that...

Beyond that...what?

[Fuzz]

Though the concept of species was not around at the time, they would have to still be there.

[OneWingedShark]

Then how did the various breeds survive?

They didn't exist until after the flood. Obviously.

… have you ever spent any time on a farm or ranch?
This stuff is obvious to anyone who has; it's even got a name, animal husbandry:

the management and care of farm animals by humans for profit, in which genetic qualities and behaviour, considered to be advantageous to humans, are further developed. The term can refer to the practice of selectively breeding and raising livestock to promote desirable traits in animals for utility, sport, pleasure, or research, but also refers to the efficient exploitation of a species in agriculture advantageous to humans.

[OneWingedShark]

Why couldn’t he have left the bugs off?

Because without insects the ecosphere would be in a bad place.
(e.g. Flies, especially maggots, aid in the decomposition of organic matter.)

[Resettozero]

Even as a child, the Ark made no sense to me.

A fact may be true irrespective of one's disbelief or degree of understanding. The Flood account made enough sense to me as a child and is best accepted as a child and maintained throughout life. Just sayin'.

[Fuzz]

“Ever heard of God? You know, otherwise called the Almighty? The One who created the world and everything in it? I think He could probably manage those other problems.”

If that’s the case, he probably should have worked out a solution that didn’t involve killing all life on earth with the exception of the population of one big boat.