Fine tuning: Size of Earth

_{Denyse O'Leary

December 10, 2014

Fine tuning, News}

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Further from that Eric Metaxas:

“If the earth were slightly larger, it of course would have slightly larger gravity, which has interesting implications. It’s not just that a person who weighs 150 pounds would weigh more. It’s that if the earth had slightly more gravity than it now has, methane and ammonia gas, which have molecular weights of sixteen and seventeen, respectfully, would remain close to our surface. Since we cannot breathe methane and ammonia, which are toxic, we would die. More to the point, we would have never come into existence in the first place.

On the other hand, if earth were just a tiny bit smaller and had a bit less gravity, water vapor, which has a molecular weight of 18, would not stay down here close to the planet’s surface but would instead dissipate into the planets atmosphere. Obviously, without water we could not exist.” – Eric Metaxas – Miracles – pages 38-39

Again, hat tip: Philip Cunningham

Comments

As to photosynthesis (and light in general), that is a miracle in its own right: at the 21:00 minute mark of the following video, Dr Suarez explains why photosynthesis needs a 'non-local', beyond space and time, cause to explain its effect: Nonlocality of Photosynthesis - Antoine Suarez - video - 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhMrrmlTXl4&feature=player_detailpage#t=1268s Quantum Mechanics Explains Efficiency of Photosynthesis - Jan. 9, 2014 Excerpt: Previous experiments suggest that energy is transferred in a wave-like manner, exploiting quantum phenomena, but crucially, a non-classical explanation could not be conclusively proved as the phenomena identified could equally be described using classical physics.,,, Now, a team at UCL have attempted to identify features in these biological systems which can only be predicted by quantum physics, and for which no classical analogues exist. ,,,said Alexandra Olaya-Castro (UCL Physics & Astronomy), supervisor and co-author of the research. "We found that the properties of some of the chromophore vibrations that assist energy transfer during photosynthesis can never be described with classical laws, and moreover, this non-classical behaviour enhances the efficiency of the energy transfer.",,, Other biomolecular processes such as the transfer of electrons within macromolecules (like in reaction centres in photosynthetic systems), the structural change of a chromophore upon absorption of photons (like in vision processes) or the recognition of a molecule by another (as in olfaction processes), are influenced by specific vibrational motions. The results of this research therefore suggest that a closer examination of the vibrational dynamics involved in these processes could provide other biological prototypes exploiting truly non-classical phenomena,, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140109092008.htm Cells Know Their Physics - October 2010 Excerpt: the Complex I macromolecular complex. This machine employs a railroad-like piston and coupling-rod mechanism,, to create the proton gradient that drives ATP synthesis.“It is remarkable that the most fundamental energy-generating machinery in cells is based on the wave properties of electrons, which allow for an efficient transport of energy-carrying particles along the chain of redox cofactors toward molecular oxygen via quantum tunneling as demonstrated by this study.” http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201010.htm#20101027a As well, the ATP synthase molecular machine, which is an integral part of the photosynthetic process, operates at 100% thermodynamic efficiency: Your Motor/Generators Are 100% Efficient – October 2011 Excerpt: ATP synthase astounds again. The molecular machine that generates almost all the ATP (molecular “energy pellets”) for all life was examined by Japanese scientists for its thermodynamic efficiency. By applying and measuring load on the top part that synthesizes ATP, they were able to determine that one cannot do better at getting work out of a motor,,, The article was edited by noted Harvard expert on the bacterial flagellum, Howard Berg. http://crev.info/content/111014-your_motor_generators Visible light is also incredibly fine-tuned for life to exist. Though visible light is only a tiny fraction of the total electromagnetic spectrum coming from the sun, it happens to be the "most permitted" portion of the sun's spectrum allowed to filter through the our atmosphere. All the other bands of electromagnetic radiation, directly surrounding visible light, happen to be harmful to organic molecules, and are almost completely absorbed by the atmosphere. The tiny amount of harmful UV radiation, which is not visible light, allowed to filter through the atmosphere is needed to keep various populations of single cell bacteria from over-populating the world (Ross; reasons.org). The size of light's wavelengths and the constraints on the size allowable for the protein molecules of organic life, also seem to be tailor-made for each other. This "tailor-made fit" allows photosynthesis, the miracle of sight, and many other things that are necessary for human life. These specific frequencies of light (that enable plants to manufacture food and astronomers to observe the cosmos) represent less than 1 trillionth of a trillionth (10^-24) of the universe's entire range of electromagnetic emissions. Like water, visible light also appears to be of optimal biological utility (Denton; Nature's Destiny). Extreme Fine Tuning of Light for Life and Scientific Discovery - video http://www.metacafe.com/w/7715887 Fine Tuning Of Universal Constants, Particularly Light - Walter Bradley - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4491552 Fine Tuning Of Light to the Atmosphere, to Biological Life, and to Water - graphs http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMTljaGh4MmdnOQ Michael Denton: Remarkable Coincidences in Photosynthesis - podcast http://www.idthefuture.com/2012/09/michael_denton_remarkable_coin.htmlbornagain77_{December 10, 2014
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Joe @ 10 Don't be so lazy. GIYF. Hint :Search for 'Early Earth methane' or 'Methane in early earth' or 'concentration of methane' Search term 1 for you hereMe_Think_{December 10, 2014
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Mark Frank @2 "This is a classic case of the puddle that is just the right size to fit the hole it is in." That statement is a mischaracterization of the fine-tuning argument. Try the example of a key fitting into a lock. Life is opening the door and the universe and its constants of physics are the lock(s)/key(s). Only a specified lock-key relationship will lead to the opening of the door. Only specific constants of physics will allow life to exist. We could infer the statement, "the key was designed to open the lock." We could similarly infer, "the universe was designed for life to exist." It is true that you could "adjust" the key slightly and still maintain function with the lock but only ever so slightly. Eventual tweaking will lead the key UNABLE to perform the function with the lock and open the door. Similarly you could "adjust" the constants of physics ever so slightly and possibly still allow for the existence of life, but too much would lead to an inhabitable universe. You could argue that the specification (fine-tuning) is within large parameters (such as a hot dog fitting into a bun). But for the case with the lock-key the specificity is high (very few keys could open the same lock). Determining the constraints and how well tuned to allow life they are is on-going investigation. A prediction of the theory is that as we learn more about the universe we will find more constraints or the constraints will be shown to be highly constrained or more finely tuned. (e.g. tolerance will increase from 10% to 5% to 1%...) Your analogy is flawed for another reason. Rain falling into a hole necessarily fills it's shape. You might say it "leads to the formation of what we see, namely a puddle in a hole." However, notice during my comment I said, "allows life to exist," not "leads to life" as you asserted in comment 13. A random viscous liquid may fill the lock (but not lead to the opening of the door). A random solid will most likely NOT fit into the lock (thus not leading to the opening of the door). A lock by itself does NOT lead the formation of the key that would lead to the opening of the door. Similarly the constants of physics in this universe do NOT necessarily lead to life, they merely allow life to exist (if it ever begins). Translate that to the OP with the size of the Earth. Here the fine-tuning is for Complex life. I will admit that the size of the Earth can be adjusted more freely and still allow for micro-organisms to exist, but Complex life requiring a breathing apparatus could only exist with finer restraints on the size of Earth leading to the correct amount of gases available. Your assertion in comment 13 that "different environments will lead to different life forms" is pure speculation with no evidence. We actually have very good ideas and observations on the constraints on environments that permit the existence of life, the existences of complex life, and the existence of technology that will be used by intelligent life. Astrobiologists use these ideas in their search for life (intelligent or not) outside Earth.jazzcat_{December 10, 2014
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Place of Life and Man in Nature: Defending the Anthropocentric Thesis - Michael J. Denton - February 25, 2013 Summary (page 11) Many of the properties of the key members of Henderson’s vital ensemble —water, oxygen, CO2, HCO3 —are in several instances fit specifically for warm-blooded, air-breathing organisms such as ourselves. These include the thermal properties of water, its low viscosity, the gaseous nature of oxygen and CO2 at ambient temperatures, the inertness of oxygen at ambient temperatures, and the bicarbonate buffer, with its anomalous pKa value and the elegant means of acid-base regulation it provides for air-breathing organisms. Some of their properties are irrelevant to other classes of organisms or even maladaptive. It is very hard to believe there could be a similar suite of fitness for advanced carbon-based life forms. If carbon-based life is all there is, as seems likely, then the design of any active complex terrestrial being would have to closely resemble our own. Indeed the suite of properties of water, oxygen, and CO2 together impose such severe constraints on the design and functioning of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems that their design, even down to the details of capillary and alveolar structure can be inferred from first principles. For complex beings of high metabolic rate, the designs actualized in complex Terran forms are all that can be. There are no alternative physiological designs in the domain of carbon-based life that can achieve the high metabolic activity manifest in man and other higher organisms. http://bio-complexity.org/ojs/index.php/main/article/view/BIO-C.2013.1/BIO-C.2013.1 Privileged Species - Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAHPTwGZSP4 Privileged Species - How the cosmos is designed for human life - website http://privilegedspecies.com/ Michael Denton's Privileged Species Premieres in Seattle to a Packed House - November 14, 2014 Excerpt: If life exists elsewhere (in the universe), its home would remind us of Earth and the aliens would reminds us of ourselves. The periodic table, so wonderfully concise, is a recipe for us. Oh, and for our way of life too. While focusing on the unique properties of water, carbon, and oxygen, Denton shows that the chemical elements appear beautifully structured to allow the development of technology, from our use of fire to the rise of computers. He emphasizes that this "stunning series of coincidences" is not a matter of scientific controversy, and in fact represents the great scientific discovery of the past century. It's a matter of fact, not interpretation. Denton observed that properties of nature uniquely fit for life continue to be discovered regularly and he offered the prediction that in the upcoming century scientists will uncover more and more. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2014/11/michael_denton_091241.htmlbornagain77_{December 10, 2014
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#14 Joe I did not meant to imply that all environments lead to life forms - but the range even on earth is extraordinary.Mark Frank_{December 10, 2014
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The point is that different environments will lead to different life forms.
The Moon has a different environment. What type of lifeforms will that environment lead to?Joe_{December 10, 2014
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5mm #11
The fine tuning argument is about more than survival of any ole life it’s about the flourishing of the kind of life that has the intelligence and ability to study it’s surroundings and to actually give a rip about how it all came to be
The point is that different environments will lead to different life forms. I don't think anyone has much idea what are the constraints on environments that permit the development of life that is "has the intelligence and ability to study it’s surroundings and to actually give a rip about how it all came to be" but it doesn't affect the argument. Even if only the most excruciatingly specific circumstances would lead to intelligent life - different specific circumstances would lead to life or even non-life that was special in other respects. You can only argue it was fine tuning by assuming that something had an objective to create something like us i.e. you have to assume the very thing you are arguing for.Mark Frank_{December 10, 2014
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Of note to water vapor: The Cold Trap: How It Works – Michael Denton – May 10, 2014 Excerpt: As water vapor ascends in the atmosphere, it cools and condenses out, forming clouds and rain and snow and falling back to the Earth. This process becomes very intense at the so-called tropopause (17-10 km above sea level) where air temperatures reach -80°C and all remaining water in the atmosphere is frozen out. The air in the layer of the atmosphere above the troposphere in the stratosphere (extending up to 50 km above mean sea level) is absolutely dry, containing oxygen, nitrogen, some CO and the other atmospheric gases, but virtually no H2O molecules.,,, ,,,above 80-100 km, atoms and molecules are subject to intense ionizing radiation. If water ascended to this level it would be photo-dissociated into hydrogen and oxygen and, the hydrogen being very light, lost into space. Over a relatively short geological period all the water and oceans would be evaporated and the world uninhabitable.,,, Oxygen, having a boiling point of -183°C, has no such problems ascending through the tropopause cold trap into the stratosphere. As it does, it becomes subject to more and more intense ionizing radiation. However this leads,, to the formation of ozone (O3). This forms a protective layer in the atmosphere above the tropopause, perfectly placed just above the cold trap and preventing any ionizing radiation in the far UV region from reaching the H2O molecules at the tropopause and in the troposphere below. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2014/05/the_cold_trap_h085441.htmlbornagain77_{December 10, 2014
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ME_think Earth was fine tuned for bacteria with lots of methane and no oxygen. Mark Frank at some stage in the future we may fine tune it for cockroaches by clever use of nuclear weapons. I say, Would bacteria or cockroaches ever have the ability to study their environment and ponder their good fortune? Would such an environment be amendable to study at all? The fine tuning argument is about more than survival of any ole life it's about the flourishing of the kind of life that has the intelligence and ability to study it's surroundings and to actually give a rip about how it all came to be peacefifthmonarchyman_{December 10, 2014
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MT @ (- I knew you couldn't present any evidence to support your tripeJoe_{December 10, 2014
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Joe @ 8 GIYFMe_Think_{December 10, 2014
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MT:
Earth was fine tuned for bacteria with lots of methane and no oxygen.
Evidence please.Joe_{December 10, 2014
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There are life forms that exist in all the most extreme conditions on earth now and in the past.
So what? Unguided evolution didn't put them there. BTW what about the puddles that don't exactly fit the hole they are in? My bet is that happens more often than not.Joe_{December 10, 2014
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Mark Frank Like I said unguided evolution can build anything even nuclear weapons...... Where have you been!Andre_{December 10, 2014
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And at some stage in the future we may fine tune it for cockroaches by clever use of nuclear weapons.Mark Frank_{December 10, 2014
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Earth was fine tuned for bacteria with lots of methane and no oxygen. Unfortunately someone gifted photosynthesis and fine tuned it for humansMe_Think_{December 10, 2014
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Mark Frank Just imagine, unguided evolution finds a way!Andre_{December 9, 2014
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This is a classic case of the puddle that is just the right size to fit the hole it is in. There are life forms that exist in all the most extreme conditions on earth now and in the past. There is even evidence that some life forms can survive space travel. If gravity was slightly different the earth might not support us but it is quite possible it would have supported some other life form instead.Mark Frank_{December 9, 2014
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There is no fine tuning that you speak of! It is just unguided processes that did it!Andre_{December 9, 2014
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