Articles
Paleomagnetism Busted!
This
short review of the Ham - Nye Debate was first posted in the Science
Against Evolution newsletter, February, 2014. While this review was
written by Dr. R. David Pogge and he is responsible for the content, we agree with his review. - See more at: http://www.creationworldview.org/articles_view.asp?id=141#sthash.WF2He7nU.dpuf This
short review of the Ham - Nye Debate was first posted in the Science
Against Evolution newsletter, February, 2014. While this review was
written by Dr. R. David Pogge and he is responsible for the content, we agree with his review. - See more at: http://www.creationworldview.org/articles_view.asp?id=141#sthash.WF2He7nU.dpuf
This essay was first posted in the Science
Against Evolution newsletter, December, 2013. The essay was
written by Dr. R. David Pogge.
Paleomagnetism Busted!
This months essay has three goals.
- To disprove the myth that the residual magnetism of rocks can be used to determine the age of rock formations (and therefore date fossils).
- To emphasize the difference between science and philosophy.
- To present a simple science fair project
which better explains the discovery of alternating bands of magnetic
polarization in geological formations than the orthodox myth.
The Myth
Before we disprove the myth, we have to tell you what the myth is.
Many scientists believe that residual magnetism can be used to
determine when igneous rocks cooled. Here is the beginning of a typical
science worksheet. Seafloor Spreading and Paleomagnetism Activity
Background: Some minerals in igneous
rocks develop a slight magnetism in alignment with Earths magnetic
field at the time of their formation. Also, scientists have discovered the polarity of Earths magnetic field has periodically reversed
and the North Magnetic Pole becomes the South Magnetic Pole, while the
South Magnetic Pole becomes the North Magnetic Pole. Putting these facts
together provides additional support for plate tectonics. The ancient
magnetism, called paleomagnetism, present in rocks on the ocean floor can be used to determine the rate at which the plates are separating and, consequently, the time
when they began to separate. Where plates separate along the mid-ocean
ridge, magma from the mantle rises to the surface and creates new ocean
floor. As the magma cools, the minerals assume magnetism equal to the magnetic field at that time.
As the plates continue to separate and Earths magnetic field reverses
polarity, new material forming at the ridge is magnetized in the
opposite direction.
1 The worksheet then provides figures below showing the alleged times (white bands) when the Earths magnetic field was reversed. 
The figures above are from a workbook claiming to show when various
rocks were formed. Rocks shown in white were formed when the Earths
North Pole was allegedly in Antarctica.
2
This particular worksheet addresses plate tectonics (that is, how
long it took for continental plates to move into their current position)
and doesnt say anything about fossils; but paleomagnetism has also been used for dating fossils (including Skull 5, which was described in last months newsletter 3, which is what prompted this essay).
Scientists measure the magnetic orientation of rocks above and below a
fossil. The fossil must have been buried after the lower layer was
deposited, and before the upper layer formed. If one knows the times
when the two layers were formed, one can tell the age of the fossil.
But if the ages of the bounding layers are wrong, then the age of the fossil is wrong.
We will show experimentally that one cannot use residual magnetism as a clock.
That is, the residual magnetism cannot tell how long it took for
continental plates to move, nor can it be used to tell the time between
the deposition of rock layers above and below a fossil.
Science vs. Philosophy
Lets separate the science from the philosophy, facts from speculation.
The first step in the scientific method is observation.
It is a scientific fact that parallel alternating bands of magnetic polarization have been discovered
under the Atlantic Ocean and other places. Granted, the magnetism is so
weak that it takes special equipment to measure it, and scientists must
be very careful to mark the orientation of the rock samples before they
are removed from the ground and taken to the laboratory. There
certainly is the possibility of errors introduced through carelessness and mishandling; but that isnt our argument.
The discovery of these magnetic bands has been verified independently
by a number of different scientists, so we can be assured that the
phenomenon is real. Thats the strength of the scientific method.
Observations can be verified by a number of different people using
independent methods. We can be confident that alternating bands of weak magnet polarity do actually exist in nature.
The second step in the scientific method is to propose a hypothesis as to WHY we observe what we have observed.
The conventional hypothesis,
accepted as fact by the worksheet quoted above, is that igneous rocks
have been forming for millions of years. When the rocks are liquid,
magnetically polarized minerals line up with the Earths magnetic field, and they retain that orientation when they solidify. Furthermore, the hypothesis says, the Earths magnetic field reverses direction
every million years or so. That is, a million years ago, a compass
would have pointed to Antarctica rather than the current position of the
North Pole.
The third step is to devise an experiment to determine if this happens or not. To our knowledge, we are the first to do this.
The fourth step is for others to repeat the experiment and verify it. Thats where you come in.
When it comes to paleomagnetism, the scientific process came to an
end with the hypothesis. The "proof" came from the realm of philosophy.
Some scientists thought the hypothesis was
reasonable enough that it must be true without the need for experimental
verification.
What could possibly cause the Earths magnetic field to reverse spontaneously?
An in-depth discussion of second-order differential equations is
beyond the scope of this essay. Suffice it to say that second-order
systems (that is, things that oscillate back and forth) are well
understood by engineers and physicists. Reversals in the Earths
magnetic field dont make any sense from a scientific point of view.
In every oscillating system known to science, energy transfers back and forth between two states.
For example, a weight at the end of a string is pulled to the left,
giving it some potential energy. When it is released, the weight swings
down, increasing in velocity until the pendulum is at its lowest point.
All the potential energy (energy of height) has been converted to
kinetic energy (energy of motion). Momentum keeps the weight moving to
the right until it stops. All the kinetic energy has been converted to
potential energy. The weight swings back to the left, converting
potential energy back into kinetic energy. The pendulum swings back and
forth as energy changes between potential energy and kinetic energy
until all the energy has been dissipated by friction. The more
friction, the greater the damping, and the sooner the oscillations die
out.
In electrical systems, a tuned circuit oscillates when electrons are
stored in a capacitor. The capacitor discharges through a coil creating
a magnetic field. As the energy stored as an electric field in the
capacitor decreases, the energy stored in the magnetic field of the coil
increases. Energy alternates between the electric field of the
capacitor and the magnetic field of the coil. The polarities of the
electric and magnetic fields keep switching back and forth until all the
energy has been dissipated by resistance.
If the Earths magnetic field really is oscillating, changing polarity (direction) every million years or so, the energy in the magnetic field has to be transferred to another energy storage state, which then discharges energy back creating a reversed magnetic field. What is that other storage state? There isnt any. Therefore, the Earths magnetic field will naturally decay exponentially to nothing, but it wont change direction.
We feel that the philosophical arguments
against periodic reversals in the Earths magnetic field are far
stronger than the generally accepted consensusbut we dont want to
argue philosophy. We want to use the scientific method to figure out
what really happens.
A Science Fair Experiment
The basic question is, Why are there alternating bands of weakly magnetized rocks found in nature? The obvious way to find out is to play with magnets to see what they do. We encourage you to repeat our experiments and determine for yourself how magnets naturally align themselves. (Please watch the video of us doing the experiment at our website .)
We bought 50 small axially magnetized cylindrical magnets for $13 (plus $5 shipping) from K & J Magnetics, Inc.
They came stuck together in parallel rows. Unfortunately, they were
not marked as to which end was the North Pole. We could not tell if all
the North Poles were pointing the same direction. So, marking them was
the first order of business.
Step 1.
We cut a small piece off a sponge and let it float in dish of water.
One at a time, we placed the small magnets (with random orientations)
on the sponge. The sponge and magnet combination always aligned itself
with the Earths magnetic field. This experimentally confirmed the fact
that, when free to rotate, a magnet will rotate so that it aligns with
the Earths magnetic field (confirming part of the hypothesis).
After placing each magnet on the sponge, we applied a little bit of red fingernail polish to the end of the magnet that pointed north so we could tell the North Pole from the South Pole of that magnet.
Step 2.
We placed two magazines side by side, with a 1-inch gap between them
on the dining room table. Then we placed a paper towel on top of the
magazines, letting it sag slightly in the gap between the magazines.
(This was just to keep the magnets from rolling off the table.) When we dropped a single cylindrical magnet onto the paper towel it rolled downhill into the valley between the magazines and stopped there.
Why did that happen? Because of gravity. The greater the distance
between an object and the center of the Earth, the greater its potential
energy. Things naturally roll downhill because they naturally seek the
lowest possible energy state. It has to do with the Second Law of
Thermodynamics. Energy likes to even itself out.
If you put ice cubes in a glass of warm water, the ice gets warmer
and melts, and the water gets colder, until all the ice has melted and
everything is the same temperature. A glass of room-temperature water
doesnt naturally separate itself into hot water and ice cubes. A glass
with hot water and ice in it is more ordered (from an energy
perspective) than a glass of water where all the molecules are the same
temperature. The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that (in the absence
of external influences) the ordered situation of hot water and ice will
change to the disordered state of uniformly warm water.
For the same reason, if you stir up a glass of water, causing waves
to form, the surface of the water will naturally even out if you leave
it alone. A glass of still water wont suddenly flow such that the
water level in the left half is higher than the level in the right half
for no reason at all.
Energy does not remain separated into high and low energy states if
it can help it. Thats why temperature tends to equalize, and water
levels tend to equalize, and things tend to roll downhill.
Step 3.
We dropped a second magnet onto the paper towel, close to the first magnet. It rolled downhill and stuck to the first magnet end-to-end, with both North Poles pointing the same direction.
Why did that happen? It is basically the same reason why they rolled
downhill. The greater the distance between two magnets, the greater
the potential energy. The magnetic force pulls them together the same
way gravity pulls everything down, to expend the energy. Magnets
naturally seek the lowest energy state.
The only difference between gravity and magnetism is that the
magnetic forces are polarized. That is, a North Pole attracts South
Poles, but repels other North Poles. Gravity attracts everything with
mass.
Step 4.
We dropped more magnets onto the towel, one at a time. They rolled together forming anti-parallel bands (just like bands of magnetically polarized rocks on the sea floor) in the crease of the paper towel.
Why did that happen? The Earths magnetic field did not change direction several times in the few minutes it took do the experiment.
The Earths magnetic field is strong enough to make a magnet floating
on a sponge rotate to align with it, but it is too weak to have anything
to do with how a magnet aligns if there are other magnets (or even
unmagnetized iron) nearby.
Just to prove the Earths magnetic field had nothing to do with it,
we repeated the experiment with the crease in the paper towel aligned
East/West rather than North/South. It did not change the results.
Magnets naturally line up with the same
orientation end-to-end and with opposite orientation side-by-side
because thats the lowest energy state.
Conclusions
In our experiments, it didnt matter if we aligned the depression in
the paper towel North/South, East/West, or any other direction. The Earths magnetic field had nothing to do with it.
In our experiments, it didnt matter how much time elapsed between dropping magnets onto the towel. Time had nothing to do with it.
(The only reason to believe that time might be involved is because the
hypothesis assumed that alignment is based on the direction of the
Earths magnetic field, and that the magnetic field changes direction
with time. Since the direction of the Earths magnetic field doesnt
change with time, and the direction doesnt matter anyway, time doesnt
matter at all.)
There is no reason to believe that magnets in nature behave any differently than magnets on our kitchen table.
Faced with the experimental proof that the orientation of residual magnetism is determined by a well-established physical principle (specifically, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which says things naturally try to minimize energy differences),
and has nothing to do with time, the myth that paleomagnetism can be
used to determine when anything happened in the past is BUSTED. Footnotes:
1
http://www.lcps.org/cms/lib4/VA01000195/Centricity/Domain/685/Paleomagnetism%20Activity.pdf
2
ibid.
3
Disclosure, November 2013, Skull 5, http://scienceagainstevolution.info/v18i2f.htm
4
http://scienceagainstevolution.info/video/Paleomagnetism.wmv
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