Earth's rotation is slowing, indicating a young earth
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Claim
Earth's rotation is slowing down, so it cannot be more than a few million years old.
Source
Responses
- While it is true that the Earth's rotation is slowing down, it is not doing so at a rate that would stop it in a few million years. The constant rate at which leap seconds are added does not demonstrate that the earth is slowing down that quickly.
- Earth's rotation is slowing down mainly due to the presence of the Moon, which is also receding from Earth. This process is called tidal locking. It did not occur before the Moon was formed, and will not continue to occur after spin-orbit resonance is achieved. That will be when one Earth month is the same as one Earth day (both being 55 "current" days). This will take about 15 billion years to occur. The Sun will not even last that long, so it's a pretty moot point. The rate of the Moon's recession, and also of the Earth's slowing spin, is also decreasing with time.
- Creationists who use this claim fail to, or refuse to appreciate how slow the rate of slowing actually is... 450 million years ago, days in the Ordovician period were around 22 hours long.
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Fallacies contained in this claim
- Hasty Generalization (hasty conclusion without considering the actual numbers/details)
External Links
- Matson, Dave E., 1994. How Good Are Those Young-Earth Arguments? A Close Look at Dr. Hovind's List of Young-Earth Arguments and Other Claims.
- Ask An Astronomer
References
- Scrutton, C. T., (1964) 1965. Periodicity in Devonian coral growth. Palaeontology 7(4): 552-558, Plates 86-87.
- Wells, J. W., 1963. Coral growth and geochronometry. Nature 197: 948-950.
Further Reading
- Rosenberg, G. D. & Runcorn, S. K. (Eds), 1975. Growth rhythms and the history of the earth's rotation. Willey Interscience, New York.
