Noah's flood physics question???

Question

If the water had really covered the entire Earth up to the level of the top of Mount Everest, how much water would be required to do that, how much would it weigh, and what would the effect of the increased gravitational pull by the Sun be - would it have pulled the Earth out of its orbit and crashing into the sun?

There was a catastrophic flood - there is geologic evidence for this (it was over 600 feet deep, but that's not "the entire world" now, is it?). I know that there is not enough water on the Earth for this to have been possible, but its interesting as an intellectual exercise. Thanks in advance to all the smart people that can help me with this one.

Apparently I am not making myself clear. I know that this could not have happened - what I want to know is what WOULD have happened if this actually did occur. I did figure out that if the Earth were to spiral in to the sun, eventually the ocean's would boil away, but by that time the path of the Earth would still be one of a spiral into the sun.
PLEASE READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY - Thank you - Paul

I'm afraid I didn't communicate my meaning well enough - I wanted to know what would happen IF there actually was enough water to cover Mt. Everest, even though I KNOW this is NOT possible - its a kind of intellectual exercise I like to try. I keep hearing about the "physics of this is impossible", and I think that if somebody actually worked out how much the increase in the gravitational pull because of the added water would do to the orbit of Earth that they could then prove it, IF it works out that the added mass is so great so as to pull the Earth out of its orbit.

Tried to email "aero-engr..." - added this, above, instead - my edited email to the other poster. Thanks guys.

Answer 1

A 600 foot change in sea level is peanuts, and is of course nowhere near the 29,000 ft level of Mt Everest. I suspect that the additional water required to accomplish this would not have a very significant effect on the Earth's orbit, since it is relatively low in density and not vey deep compared to the rest of the planet, but it still makes no sense, for the following reasons at least:

1. Where did all the water come from? Where did it go? Especially in the span of 4000 years or so...

2. How did all the animals get from Mt Ararat to South America in 4000 years? Did the earthworms swim across the Atlantic? Shimmy across the polar ice cap?

Oh well...

Hi Paul - sorry - I just get too much email already .

Well - let's see. It sort of depends on where the water comes from and where it goes. If it was associated with the earth already (clouds, secret underground chambers, etc) then there would be no change in mass, momentum, etc and all would remain the same. If it just suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and disappeared just as quickly, then I would have to ask - if that is going on, do we have to be concerned with the laws of conservation of energy and angular momentum, etc? I mean, what do we base our numbers on if it's all done by divine intervention anyway? But trying to put some logic to it:

The surface area of a sphere is = (pi)d^2. In the case of the earth, this is (pi)(8000 miles)^2 = 2.01e8 square miles. If we say the top of Everest is about 5.5 miles high, then we get (2.01e8)(5.5) = 1.1e9 cubic miles of water. The density of water = 62.43 lbm / ft^3 = 9.19e12 lbm/mile^3. So the mass of the water would be (1.1e9)(9.19e12) = about 1.0e22 lbm not counting a few waves here and there.

The mass of the earth is 1.318e25 lbm. So this would add less than a tenth of a percent to the earth's mass and make it = about 1.3187e25.

The sudden change in mass would result in a sudden change in angular momentum and orbital energy. This would cause the earth to assume a slightly eccentric orbit, instead of the near-circular one we now have. When the water disappeared, we would resume the original orbit. The change in angular momentum would be minimal; since angular momentum = mvr then the momentum would change by a factor of 1.0007. Since the semi-major axis of the orbit is dependent not on the momentum, but on the energy, which is proportional to the mass, then I would expect the orbit to become slightly smaller - by a factor of 1.0007. So at perigee, I believe the distance from the sun to the earth would be reduced from 92 million miles to 91.93 million miles - for a span of forty days? - so we would never reach perigee - because that would take 1/2 year from the mass change - and 40 days is only about 1/5 of that - so the closest approach would probably represent a change of about .07 million/5 = about .012 million or roughly 12,000 miles. This would be insignificant.

Don't know what this really adds up to, but I think it's pretty close to being right. Does it answer your question?

Answer 2

well height of mt everest is 8.848 kilometers. the radius of earth is 6,371 kilometers (average). so the volume of earth is 1,083,206,916,987 km^3. if you add 8.848 to the radius you get 1,087,726,238,029 km^3 for the volume.

so thats 4,519,321,042 km^3 of water. that comes out to be 451,932,104,200 g. well make that into kilograms to make it easier. 451,932,104.2 kg of weight added to earth.

the equation for the force of gravity honestly confuses me. its
(G*M1*M2)/r^2, where g is the universe gravity constant (i dont know it...), M1 is the mass of the first object, M2 is the mass of the second, and r is the total distance between the 2 centers of masses.

so if u want to u can do that, ive given u everything to di it except some stuff which ill give now. the distance between the sun and earth is about 150 million km. the mass of earth without anything added is 5.9736×10^24 kg, and the mass of the sun is 1.9891 ×10^30 kg.

so u can plug it all in.

Answer 3

it somewhat is splendid it had not rained on earth in the previous the excellent Flood. Genesis 2:5-6 ...For our lord god had not brought about it to rain on earth, and there replaced into no guy to until eventually finally the floor; 6 yet a mist went up from the earth and watered the full face of the floor. i've got faith there replaced right into a cover of ice crystals that surrounded the earth interior the ambience in the present day, reducing the quantity of sunlight so as that it recognized very like twilight each and all of the time. without rain and a astonishing sunlight no rainbow is achievable no refraction happens. additionally the canopy brought about a eco-friendly domicile influence keeping the full Earth in a tropical climate state. the full earth in the present day replaced into like a extensive jungle with multiple lush flowers that replaced into feed with the help of the springs of water and the mist. This environment replaced into suitable for the dragons or dinosaurs that lived in the present day. It additionally bills for the fossil gas deposits international huge. many extensive beasts and jungles have been lined up with the help of the settling sediment of the flood. The springs that busted in the process the earths crust brought about super parts of earth to shift regularly occurring as tectonic plates those additionally lined and extra rigidity to the organic and organic debris to style the fossil gas deposits. the canopy additionally limited the UV rays from achieving the earths floor and for this reason not allowing human beings to age as speedy for this reason human beings lived plenty longer. in this flood this cover melted assisting to reason a speedy and devastating experience.