Big Bang lithium shortage a “hard nut to crack”?

_{Denyse O'Leary

August 28, 2014

Big Bang, Intelligent Design, News}

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The field of astrophysics has a stubborn problem and it’s called lithium. The quantities of lithium predicted to have resulted from the Big Bang are not actually present in stars. But the calculations are correct – a fact which has now been confirmed for the first time in experiments conducted at the underground laboratory in the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy. As part of an international team, researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) studied how much lithium forms under Big Bang conditions.

Lithium (atomic number 3) is the lightest known metal, solid at room temperature, used in alloys for aircraft manufacture. (It is also used in the treatment of manic disorders.)

With these new results, what is known as the “lithium problem” remains a hard nut to crack: on the one hand, now all laboratory results of the astrophysicists suggest that the theory of primordial nucleosynthesis is correct. On the other hand, many observations of astronomers show that the oldest stars in our Milky Way contain only half as much lithium-7 as predicted. Sensational reports by Swedish researchers, who discovered clearly more lithium-6 in such stars than predicted, must also likely be checked again based on the new LUNA data. Bemmerer says, “Should unusual lithium concentrations be observed in the future, we know, thanks to the new measurements, that it cannot be due to the primordial nucleosynthesis.”

It sounds like a fun problem, actually, dare we say—a lighter moment?

See also: Big Bang exterminator wanted, will train

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The lithium problem is one evidence against the Big Bang. One can say "Well, maybe this...." or "maybe that...", or one could just say "God superintended in this matter", but the lithium problem as it stands, is evidence against the Big Bang. The evidence just does not fit what the theory predicts. Astronomer Dr. Danny Faulkner explains why this is indeed a problem for Big Bang Believing crowd here: https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/age-of-the-universe/the-primordial-lithium-problem/ And here is a recent article entitled "A Biblical Creationist Cosmology" written by Dr. John Hartnett: https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/starlight/a-biblical-creationist-cosmogony/ This is an effort to deal with the starlight time travel problem that exists in a young earth scenario. tjguy

As to nucleo-synthesis in general, nucleo-synthesis is a fascinating process to learn about,,,
The Elements: Forged in Stars – video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-LXUHJmzzc
The delicate balance at which carbon, the building block of life, is synthesized in stars is truly a work of art. Fred Hoyle (1915-2001), a famed astrophysicist, is the scientist who established the nucleo-synthesis of heavier elements within stars as mathematically valid in 1946. Hoyle is said to have converted from staunch atheism into being a Theist/Deist after discovering the precise balance at which carbon is synthesized in stars. Years after Sir Fred discovered the stunning precision with which carbon is synthesized in stars he stated:
From 1953 onward, Willy Fowler and I have always been intrigued by the remarkable relation of the 7.65 MeV energy level in the nucleus of 12 C to the 7.12 MeV level in 16 O. If you wanted to produce carbon and oxygen in roughly equal quantities by stellar nucleosynthesis, these are the two levels you would have to fix, and your fixing would have to be just where these levels are actually found to be. Another put-up job? ... I am inclined to think so. A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect has “monkeyed” with the physics as well as the chemistry and biology, and there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. - Sir Fred Hoyle, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 20 (1982): 16.
Fred Hoyle also stated:
I do not believe that any physicist who examined the evidence could fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce within stars. Sir Fred Hoyle - "The Universe: Past and Present Reflections." Engineering and Science, November, 1981. pp. 8–12
Also of interest to the nucleo-synthesis of carbon, the building block of life, 'unexpected roundness' is found in both the geometry of the sun and in the geometry of the 'buckyball' carbon molecule:
Sun's Almost Perfectly Round Shape Baffles Scientists - (Aug. 16, 2012) — Excerpt: The sun is nearly the roundest object ever measured. If scaled to the size of a beach ball, it would be so round that the difference between the widest and narrow diameters would be much less than the width of a human hair.,,, They also found that the solar flattening is remarkably constant over time and too small to agree with that predicted from its surface rotation. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120816150801.htm Bucky Balls - Andy Gion Excerpt: Buckyballs (C60; Carbon 60) are the roundest and most symmetrical large molecule known to man. Buckministerfullerine continues to astonish with one amazing property after another. C60 is the third major form of pure carbon; graphite and diamond are the other two. Buckyballs were discovered in 1985,,, http://www.3rd1000.com/bucky/bucky.htm
Supplemental note:
The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Life Just Got Finer - March 15, 2013 Excerpt: In new lattice calculations done at the Juelich Supercomputer Centre [in Germany] the physicists found that just a slight variation in the light quark mass will change the energy of the Hoyle state, and this in turn would affect the production of carbon and oxygen in such a way that life as we know it wouldn't exist. "The Hoyle state of carbon is key," Lee says. "If the Hoyle state energy was at 479 keV [479,000 electron volts] or more above the three alpha particles [helium-4 nuclei], then the amount of carbon produced would be too low for carbon-based life. "The same holds true for oxygen," he adds. "If the Hoyle state energy were instead within 279 keV of the three alphas, then there would be plenty of carbon. But the stars would burn their helium into carbon much earlier in their life cycle. As a consequence, the stars would not be hot enough to produce sufficient oxygen for life. In our lattice simulations, we find that more than a 2 or 3 percent change in the light quark mass would lead to problems with the abundance of either carbon or oxygen in the universe." http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/03/the_fine-tuning_1070091.html
Verse and Music:
Matthew 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. John Lennon - Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) [Live] [High Quality] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxeP52dWTg
bornagain77

The Privileged Planet – video playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ohuG3Vj_48&list=PLbzQ4aXdqWD-9kjFsSm-cxNlzgrkJuko7 bornagain77

as to: "Or maybe the big bang actually happened, and the precise concentration of lithium in the universe was designed." That would be my bet. In fact, as a soon to be released video will reveal,,,,
Privileged Species - Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAHPTwGZSP4
,,, it is found, when scrutinizing the details of chemistry, that not only is the universe finely-tuned for life, but that the universe is finely-tuned for life like human life:
The 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 “Dr. Michael Denton on Evidence of Fine-Tuning in the Universe” (Remarkable balance of various key elements for life) – podcast http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2012-08-21T14_43_59-07_00
Of note: 'The Privileged Species' video will be an excellent companion video to the previously released 'The Privileged Planet' video
The Privileged Planet - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnWyPIzTOTw
bornagain77

Or maybe the big bang actually happened, and the precise concentration of lithium in the universe was designed. Moose Dr

Maybe the Big Bang is just a silly religious myth and the precise concentration of lithium in the universe was designed. Mapou

" used in alloys for aircraft manufacture. (It is also used in the treatment of manic disorders.)" Isn't it also at the heart of lithium ion batteries? This certainly is the best known use for the substance. Moose Dr

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