Reasons To Believe - Spokane Chapter

January 2006 Newsletter

Table of Contents:

Chapter Meeting: Sunday, January 15, 3-5 PM.

A presentation is offered to the group, followed by discussion and questions, and we conclude with snacks and a little club business. This month we'll watch the latest RTB DVD, "Cosmic Fingerprints". We'll also make a decision about whether we'll continue to hold our meetings every month, or move to meeting every other month. If you have an opinion, please attend.

  • Date: January 15, 2005 (Sunday)
  • Time: 3 - 5 P.M.
  • Hosts: Dan and Cathy Bakken
  • Location: 13003 N. Miami Ct, Mead
  • Phone: 466-2693 (for directions, etc.)

Water, the "Lagom" Liquid

By Don C. Olson.

Don Olson is a member of the Seattle RTB Chapter and has a B.S. in Chemistry and Ph.D in Analytical Chemistry. This article appeared in the July, 2005 issue of the Seattle Chapter's newsletter.

There is a unique word in Swedish called "lagom." It means "just right." For example, not too much, not too little; not too hot, not too cold-just right. We could call "lagom" the Goldilocks word.

Now, what does this have to do with water? Such a common, ubiquitous substance as water, which nearly covers the earth, would not seem to be unique. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Water is a unique liquid unlike any other

common liquid in the universe. It has a set of properties which are just right-in other

words "lagom"-for the support of life on earth. Let's take a look at some of these characteristics, starting with water's thermal properties. Like other liquids, water contracts (gets more dense and heavier) as its temperature drops. However, when it reaches a temperature close to freezing (40 C to be exact), something odd happens.

At that point, a reversal occurs and water begins to expand (becoming less dense) with the dropping temperature.

Furthermore, water undergoes an even greater expansion when it reaches 00 C and freezes into ice. No other common naturally occurring liquid of any significant abundance does this. It turns out these properties are just right to cause the coldest water in a body of water to rise to the surface and for ice to float on the surface. Without this behavior, the coldest water would collect and freeze at the bottom of bodies of water, such as lakes. Ice on the bottom would not melt efficiently during the warm seasons, so eventually these bodies of water would freeze from the bottom up until they were solid ice. This would happen in our lakes and seas and some rivers over vast regions of the earth which have a winter season and, in these regions, life in these bodies of water would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Imagine the Great Lakes frozen into a solid block of ice.

Another important property of water is solvent power. Solvent power is the ability of a liquid to dissolve chemicals. The life-supporting chemistry in our cells occurs in a water medium. It is vital, therefore, that the solvent power of water to be high enough to dissolve the chemicals used in life processes, but not too high or the water would dissolve the cells themselves. You guessed it, the solvent power of water is "lagom" for meeting these requirements. Water is also involved in some of the life chemistry. Therefore, it must be reactive, but not too reactive or it will destroy some of the vital components of the cells. Water's reactivity, it turns out, is just right.

Another property of critical importance is viscosity. The viscosity of a liquid determines how easy it flows and how much pressure it takes to pump it around. Furthermore, the smaller the diameter of a tube that the liquid is pumped through, the greater the resistance to flow. Getting nutrients to our cells depends on the flow of the blood through billions of extremely small tubes called capillaries. These capillaries are so small that one could run 10,000 in parallel down a pencil lead. Because of their extremely small diameters, they cause a very high resistance to flow, and therefore to pump a liquid through them with a low pressure pump such as the heart requires that the liquid have a very low viscosity.

Water has a low viscosity which is perfectly fit for this application. If it were much higher, it would not be possible to easily pump blood through the capillaries. If it were much lower, shearing forces would damage the delicate structures of the cell. Viscosity also affects the rate of diffusion of nutrients between and within cells. The viscosity of water is also perfectly fit for this function. In a word, the viscosity of water is "lagom" for the support of life.

Solids, including ice, also have a viscosity. Because ice has a low enough viscosity,

our glaciers slowly flow down slopes to the sea. There, icebergs calve and melt as they float into warmer waters. This recycling process helps to moderate the climate of the earth in a range that is fit for life. If ice had a much higher viscosity, flow of the glaciers would be much slower, and most of the water of the earth would accumulate and be immobilized in vast ice caps around the poles and on high mountains. Most of the earth would become a Sahara.

If the viscosity of ice were much lower, glaciers would flow to the sea and melt much faster, which would also have a severe effect on the climate. These are some of the properties of water that are "lagom" for the support of life. Because they are "lagom", the earth teems with life. If they were not, the earth would be sterile. If this "lagom" liquid didn't exist, it would have to be invented for life to exist. If you want to thank God for something really important, thank him for water.

For more information on water, the author recommends the book, Nature's Destiny, by Michael Denton.

Another resource is the book The Privileged Planet, by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards.

RTB and Ken Ham Debate on the Ankerberg Show

A debate focusing on the length of the creation days of Genesis was filmed for the John Ankerberg Show earlier this month. The debate took place between Hugh Ross and Dr. Walter Kaiser on the RTB (old-earth) side, and Ken Ham and Dr. Jason Lisle of the young-earth organization, Answers in Genesis (AIG). The first episode will air around the middle of January on the John Ankerberg Show.

To find out when the show airs, visit www.ankerberg.com and look in the lower left corner. Unfortunately we don't think it is offered on Spokane area cable, or over the local stations. It is available on several satellite networks. You can pre-order the debate on DVD at the show's web site for $70. You can also click on "Watch TV Program" to watch online.

News Notes

New Scientist at RTB

RTB Has added a new scientist to their scholar team. Jeff Zweerink comes to Reasons To Believe from University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he served on the physics and astronomy research faculty.

His specialty is high energy gamma-ray astrophysics. Although science has been a major interest for most of his life, Jeff's fascination with gamma rays-messengers from vastly distant black holes and neutron stars-began during his graduate studies at Iowa State University, where he earned his Ph.D. (1997).

Jeff has co-authored more than 30 refereed publications and numerous conference proceedings. Jeff lives in Southern California with his wife and four children.

Jay Richards Moves to Acton Institute

Jay Richards, co-author of The Privileged Planet, has moved from his position at the Discovery Institute in Seattle to become the director of institutional relations at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He will continue to be involved in intelligent design issues, but looks forward to traveling and speaking for the Acton Institute. The Institute does have an interest in the intelligent design movement.

For more information on the Institute, visit www.actoninstitute.org.

Discovery Institute Reviews the DoverIDin Schools Controversy

For those of you who have been following the news from Dover, Pennsylvania about teaching the controversy about evolution in the Dover Area School District, you can read a lengthy blog on that decision, which went against the intelligent design advocates, at www.discovery.org.

Hal Lindsey Leaving TBN Over Islam Issue

For those of you interested in prophecy news, the name Hal Lindsey is well known. Hal Lindsey's television program has been a staple on Trinity Broadcasting Network for years. In an interesting turn of events, Hal is leaving that network and searching for a new home for his weekly television show, "International Intelligence Briefing".

The leadership of TBN asked Hal to not cast a "negative light" on Islam and to submit each show for censorship. For more information, visit www.hallinseyoracle.com.

Dinosaur Blood Article Draws Fire

You may recall an article a few months ago in this newsletter on the possible discovery of dinosaur blood, and the young-earth creationists' arguments that this is proof of a young earth. That article was written by the Seattle RTB Chapter president, Greg Moore.

A young-earth creationist, Carl Wieland of Answers in Genesis, issued a rebuttal of that article, and Greg Moore has written a response to that rebuttal. Visit http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/other_papers to read Greg's article, entitled "Carl Wieland's Squishosaur".

Who We Are and What We Do: Your Local Reasons To Believe Chapter

We're here to answer your questions and help local Christians and churches get more answers about science and the bible issues.

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  • We help Christians overcome their fear of science and equip them to use it as an effective tool in spreading the Gospel.
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Contact Information:

For more information about the Reasons To Believe Spokane Chapter, contact:

  • Phone: Dan Bakken (509) 466-2693
  • Email:

  • Web Page: www.reasons.org/chapters/spokane

  • Newsletter Editor: Cathy Bakken, cgbakken@yahoo.com

Resources To Know About:

www.reasons.org: Many useful documents are available, as well as their daily new "reason to believe" from the latest scientific research.

Reasons' Web Store: Buy the books you read about here! http://store.reasons.org/

Reasons Institute: RTB's online distance learning program. Take college-level apologetics courses. Contact RTB for information at 626-335-1480.

Reasons To Believe television show: Thursday mornings, 3:00 A.M. Pacific time on TBN. An archive of recent shows is at www.reasons.org.

Creation Update Web Radio Show: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/creation_update/Archives.asp.