Bombardier beetle chemicals would explode if mixed without an inhibitor

From EvoWiki

Contents 1 Claim 2 Source 3 Responses 4 Fallacies contained in this claim 5 External Links 6 See For Yourself 7 Further Reading 8 Related claims 9 Acknowledgments

Claim

The bombardier beetle would explode if the hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone which produce their ejecta were mixed without a chemical inhibitor. Such a combination of chemicals couldn't have evolved.

Source

• Gish, Duane, 1977. Those Terrible Lizards, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, pp. 51-52.
• Hitching, Francis, 1981. The Neck of the Giraffe, Meridian, NY, p. 68.
• Anonymous, 1990. The amazing bombardier beetle. Creation Ex Nihilo 12(1): 29.

Responses

1. The claim is false. In point of fact, hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone do not explode when you mix them. They appear to explode because the beetle squeezes them out in extremely rapid bursts.
2. The beetle produces the catalyst separately.
3. add more responses

Fallacies contained in this claim

• Misrepresenting the Facts
• Argument from Ignorance
• False Dilemma (disproving evolution does not prove creationism)

External Links

• Isaak, M., 1997. Bombardier beetles and the argument of design. [1]

See For Yourself

• Hydroquinone is available from photography shops and hydrogen peroxide from supermarkets and drug stores. You can mix them yourself to see that they don't explode.

Further Reading

• Aneshansley, D.J. & Eisner, T., 1969. Biochemistry at 100C: explosive secretory discharge of bombardier beetles (Brachinus). Science 165: 61-63.
• Aneshansley, D.J., T.H. Jones, D. Alsop, J. Meinwald, & T. Eisner, 1983. Thermal concomitants and biochemistry of the explosive discharge mechanism of some little known bombardier beetles. Experientia 39: 366-368.* Dawkins, Richard, 1987. The Blind Watchmaker, Norton, NY, pp. 86-87.
• Eisner, T. et al., 1989. Chemical defense of an Ozaenine bombardier beetle from New Guinea. Psyche 96: 153-160.
• Kofahl, Robert E., 1981. The bombardier beetle shoots back. Creation/Evolution 2(3): 12-14.
• Dinosaurs by Design/Dinosaurs Those Terrible Lizards
• Weber, C.G., 1981. The bombardier beetle myth exploded. Creation/Evolution 2(1): 1-5.

Related claims

• The bombardier beetle is too complex to have evolved

Acknowledgments