Creation Answer:
According to the National Geomagnetic Initiative, “the mechanism for generating the geomagnetic field remains one of the central unresolved problems in geosciences.”[i] “Magnetism is almost as much of a puzzle now as it was when William Gilbert (1544-1603) wrote his classic text, ‘Concerning Magnetism, Magnetic Bodies, and the Great Magnet, Earth’ in 1600.”[ii]
“What a planet needs in order to produce a strong magnetic field is (1) a liquid conducting (metallic) interior and (2) rapid rotation to get the conducting material moving about.”[iii] The magnetic field is based on the amount of the liquid swirling within the earth. The faster the moving currents, the stronger the magnetic field would be. “If the liquid interior becomes solid or if the rotation slows down, the magnetic field will weaken.”[iv] Over time, the earth, like most things, has been cooling and its rotation slowing so the magnetic field is expected to weaken.
Naturalism needs a way for magnetic fields to continually recharge, and this they call the Dynamo effect. “Currents create a magnetic field–a distribution of magnetic forces–and the essence of the self-sustaining dynamo problem is to find solutions such that the resulting magnetic field is also the input field required for generating the current in the first place…Actually, that is only the lowest level of the problem, in which one is free to prescribe the motions. To solve the full problem, we also need information about the heat sources, and these sources must be able to drive motions which also solve the dynamo problem.”[v]
“Scientists are still not sure about what provides the heat in the Earth’s core. It might come from some of the iron becoming solid and joining the inner core, or perhaps it is generated by radioactivity, like the heat of the Earth’s crust.” [vi] “Such problems are not easy. They involve intricate mathematics and are not yet fully solved.” [vii] “Evolutionary dynamo theories do not have a good explanation for the rapid decay of the field.”[viii]
The Earth’s magnetic field must have been much stronger in the past, and in fact it has weakened, at a minimum, of about 7% since the first recordings in 1827. By knowing the intensity, one can calculate the amount of electrical energy as well. Based on the Dynamic Decay theory, which is a creation model of the magnetic fields, the intensity and energy are both noticeably going down and it fits with both a young earth and global flood model.[ix]
“Archaeomagnetism” is the study of the magnetization of bricks, pottery, campfire stones, and other man-related objects studied by archaeologists…the data show that the field intensity at the earth’s surface fluctuated wildly up and down during the third millennium before Christ. A final fluctuation slowly increased the intensity until it reached a peak (50% higher than today) at about the time of Christ. Then it began a slowly accelerating decrease. By about 1000 A.D., the decrease was nearly as fast as it is today…Archaeomagnetic data taken worldwide show that the intensity of the earth’s magnetic field was about 40% greater in 1000 A.D. than it is today, and that it has declined steadily since then.” [x] Therefore, there is no way that these fields were formed billions of years ago; if it were a normal strength billions of years ago, it would be really weak or essentially gone today. “The maximum age for the Earth’s magnetic field: about 20,000 Years.”[xi] “But even in this extreme case, the maximum age would still be only about 100,000 years, far short of the billions of years evolution needs.”[xii]
“Paleomagnetism is the study of magnetization locked into rocks at the time of their formation. Paleomagnetic data shows that while the geologic strata were being laid down, the earth’s magnetic field reversed its direction hundreds of times. Reversals are a very severe departure from steady decay of intensity,”[xiii] the once prevailing Creationist theory. Creation Physicist Dr. Russell Humphreys “suggested that strong flows of the fluid in the earth’s core could produce rapid reversals of the field during [“most of the reversals occurred in the Flood year, every week or two.”[xiv]] and after the Genesis flood. The resulting disturbances in the core would cause the field intensity at the earth’s surface to fluctuate up and down for thousands of years afterwards.”[xv] For this theory, he “showed a specific physical mechanism for such reversals.”[xvi]
“Dr Humphreys also proposed a test for his model: magnetic reversals should be found in rocks known to have cooled in days or weeks [around the time of the flood]. For example, in a thin lava flow, the outside would cool first, and record earth’s magnetic field in one direction; the inside would cool later, and record the field in another direction. Three years after this prediction, leading researchers Robert Coe and Michel Prévot found a thin lava layer that must have cooled within 15 days, and had 90° of reversal recorded continuously in it. And it was no fluke—eight years later, they reported an even faster reversal. This was staggering news to them and the rest of the evolutionary community, but strong support for Humphreys’ model.”[xvii]
To allow for a dynamo causing a long-lasting magnetic field, the core needs to be liquid. Mercury still has a magnetic field, but “Mercury is so small that the general opinion is that the planet should have frozen solid eons ago.”[xviii] In fact, in a recent mission to Mercury, “Messenger found that Mercury’s field strength had fallen by almost eight percent since its last measurement 36 years earlier. This works out to a half-life of about 320 years. In other words, Mercury loses half its magnetic field strength every 300 years or so. This is an astonishingly quick rate for an entire planet. It’s also very close to the predictions of Dr. Humphrey’s Bible-based model for Mercury. On the other hand, it thoroughly contradicts secular expectations. With a half-life of 320 years, Mercury’s field should have been completely gone billions of years ago – if Mercury were actually billions of years old.”[xix]
Naturalistic models say that Ganymede can’t have a magnetic field…but it does. Saturn’s “magnetic field doesn’t match evolutionary predictions at all.” Creation models fit the evidence better and based on his models, Dr. Humphreys correctly predicted the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune, which are very abnormal in that the magnetic fields “are strongly offset from their rotation axis. This discovery was contrary to evolutionary predictions, but is consistent with creation.”[xx] Naturalists still can’t explain “‘the enigma of lunar magnetism’—the moon once had a strong magnetic field, although it rotates only once a month…[and] it never had a molten core.”[xxi] The sun’s magnetic field reverses every 11 years, “but its ultimate causes remain mysterious.”[xxii]
Naturalistic scientists “continually adjust various magnetic dynamo theories, but none yet proposed have succeeded in theoretically upholding the magnetic field strength over the billions of years since the planets supposedly formed.”[xxiii] The naturalistic dynamo “model contradicts some basic laws of physics. Furthermore, their model fails to explain the modern, measured electric current in the seafloor. Nor can it explain the past field reversals, computer simulations notwithstanding.”[xxiv] “Evolution’s long-age dynamo model fails to match the data. In contrast, a quickly decaying, rapidly fluctuating magnetic field fits the free decay model and an age for earth of only thousands of years.”[xxv]
What the Bible Says: Psalms 91, Proverbs 3:5
by Brian Mariani and others
Before commenting, please read the following disclosures.
Any offensive language will automatically disqualify your comment for publication, even if the arguments contained are good. Please comment on the ideas that are presented and not the presenter. If your comment becomes an ad hominem argument and does not substantially address the issue, your comment will be disqualified as well. We are looking for real arguments, not fallacious ones, so that we can present and challenge opposing ideas and arguments as they are truly believed by evolutionists. We do not want to tear down straw men as well as you do not want to be misrepresented. Also, please keep your comments as brief as possible, and if the majority of the comment does not address the current issue, but becomes a red-herring, it will not be posted as well. If your comment does not fall into one of the above restrictions, then your comment will be posted unedited (you may want to check your spelling, grammar, etc.) We thank you for your time and comments.
One thing to keep in mind, each blog is one piece of evidence. Evidence has to then be interpreted, which is not a fact…but evidence strengthening or weakening a specific hypothesis or theory. So there can be multiple ways of interpreting the same evidence. I am not being unscientific, but asking more questions and being skeptical is being more scientific. I am still working on these, so please help with your comments.
If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing. Thanks for your partnership.
[i] U.S. Geodynamics Committee, National Research Council, The National Geomagnetic Initiative, 1993, The National Academies Press, http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=2238 or http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=2238&page=1, accessed June 30, 2014, page 3.
Spike Psarris, What You Aren’t Being Told About Astronomy, Vol I Our Created Solar System, Creation Astronomy Media, DVD, 2009.
[ii] S.R. Taylor, Destiny or Chance: our solar system and its place in the cosmos, pp. 163-164.
Spike Psarris, What You Aren’t Being Told About Astronomy, Vol I Our Created Solar System, Creation Astronomy Media, DVD, 2009.
[iii] Magnetic Fields, May 11, 2013, Astronomy Notes, http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/s7.htm, July 22, 2014.
[iv] Magnetic Fields, May 11, 2013, Astronomy Notes, http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/s7.htm, July 22, 2014.
[v] David P. Stern, 13. The Self Sustaining Dynamo in the Earth’s Core: Origin of The Earth’s Magnetism, February 23, 2008, http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/dynamos2.htm, accessed July 22, 2014.
[vi] David P. Stern, 13. The Self Sustaining Dynamo in the Earth’s Core: Origin of The Earth’s Magnetism, February 23, 2008, http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/dynamos2.htm, accessed July 22, 2014.
[vii] David P. Stern, 13. The Self Sustaining Dynamo in the Earth’s Core: Origin of The Earth’s Magnetism, February 23, 2008, http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/dynamos2.htm, accessed July 22, 2014.
[viii] D. Russell Humphreys, The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Young, 1993, Acts & Facts 22 (8), Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/371/, accessed July 22, 2014.
[ix] D. Russell Humphreys, The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Young, 1993, Acts & Facts 22 (8), Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/371/, accessed July 22, 2014.
[x] D. Russell Humphreys, The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Young, 1993, Acts & Facts 22 (8), Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/371/, accessed July 22, 2014.
[xi] Spike Psarris, What You Aren’t Being Told About Astronomy, Vol I Our Created Solar System, Creation Astronomy Media, DVD, 2009.
[xii] D. Russell Humphreys, The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Young, 1993, Acts & Facts 22 (8), Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/371/, accessed July 22, 2014.
[xiii] D. Russell Humphreys, The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Young, 1993, Acts & Facts 22 (8), Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/371/, accessed July 22, 2014.
[xiv] Jonathan Sarfati, The earth’s magnetic field: evidence that the earth is young, March 1998, Creation 20(2):15-17, Creation Ministries International, http://creation.com/the-earths-magnetic-field-evidence-that-the-earth-is-young, accessed July 22, 2014.
[xv] D. Russell Humphreys, The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Young, 1993, Acts & Facts 22 (8), Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/371/, accessed July 22, 2014.
[xvi] D. Russell Humphreys, The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Young, 1993, Acts & Facts 22 (8), Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/371/, accessed July 22, 2014.
[xvii] Jonathan Sarfati, The earth’s magnetic field: evidence that the earth is young, March 1998, Creation 20(2):15-17, Creation Ministries International, http://creation.com/the-earths-magnetic-field-evidence-that-the-earth-is-young, accessed July 22, 2014.
R.S. Coe and M. Prévot, Evidence suggesting extremely rapid field variation during a geomagnetic reversal, Earth and Planetary Science 92(3/4):292–298, April 1989. See also the reports by Dr Andrew Snelling, Fossil magnetism reveals rapid reversals of the earth’s magnetic field, Creation 13(3):46–50, 1991 The Earth’s magnetic field and the age of the Earth, Creation 13(4):44–48, 1991.
R.S. Coe, M. Prévot and P. Camps, New evidence for extraordinarily rapid change of the geomagnetic field during a reversal, Nature 374(6564):687–692, 1995; see also A. Snelling, The principle of ‘least astonishment’, Journal of Creation 9(2):138–139, 1995.
[xviii] S.R.Taylor, Destiny or Chance: our solar system and its place in the cosmos, p. 163.
Spike Psarris, What You Aren’t Being Told About Astronomy, Vol I Our Created Solar System, Creation Astronomy Media, DVD, 2009.
[xix] Spike Psarris, Mercury: New Discoveries Delight Creationists, Alpha Omega Insistute and CreationAstronomy.com, http://www.discovercreation.org/newsletters/MercuryNewDiscoveriesDelightCreationists.htm, accessed June 30, 2014.
Magnetic Fields, May 11, 2013, Astronomy Notes, http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/s7.htm, July 22, 2014.
[xx] Dr. Jason Lisle, Creation Astronomy: Viewing the Universe Through Biblical Glasses, Answers in Genesis – USA, Creation Library, DVD, 2006.
Spike Psarris, What You Aren’t Being Told About Astronomy, Vol I Our Created Solar System, Creation Astronomy Media, DVD, 2009.
[xxi] Jonathan Sarfati, The earth’s magnetic field: evidence that the earth is young, March 1998, Creation 20(2):15-17, Creation Ministries International, http://creation.com/the-earths-magnetic-field-evidence-that-the-earth-is-young, accessed July 22, 2014.
Irene Antonenko, New Insights into the Moon’s Mysterious Magnetic Field, January 30, 2012, Universe Today, http://www.universetoday.com/93118/new-insights-into-the-moons-mysterious-magnetic-field/, accessed July 22, 2014.
R.T. Merrill and M.W. McElhinney, The Earth’s Magnetic Field, Academic Press, London, pp. 101–106, 1983.
[xxii] Mike Wall, Sun’s Magnetic Field Reversal Still A Scientific Mystery, August 13, 2013, The Huffington Post, Space.com, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/sun-magnetic-field-reversal-scientific-mystery_n_3748515.html, accessed July 22, 2014.
[xxiii] Brian Thomas, Saturn’s Magnetic Field Auroras: Evidence for Creation, June 4, 2014, Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/8175/, accessed July 22, 2014.
[xxiv] Andrew Snelling, #5 Rapidly Decaying Magnetic Field: 10 Best Evidences From Science That Confirm a Young Earth, September 11, 2012, Answers in Genesis, https://answersingenesis.org/evidence-for-creation/5-rapidly-decaying-magnetic-field/, accessed July 22, 2014.
- J. Lanzerotti, et al., “Measurements of the Large-Scale Direct-Current Earth Potential and Possible Implications for the Geomagnetic Dynamo,” Science 229, no. 4708 (1985): 47–49.
- Russell Humphreys, “Can Evolutionists Now Explain the Earth’s Magnetic Field?” Creation Research Society Quarterly 33, no. 3 (1996): 184–185.
[xxv] Brian Thomas, Magnetic Field Data Confirm Creation Model, December 28, 2010, Institute for Creation Research, http://www.icr.org/article/magnetic-field-data-confirm-creation/, accessed July 22, 2014.
