Biblical literalists must ignore freshman physics

It is becoming obvious to me that religion, fundamentalism and scriptural literalism in particular, relies on ignorance for survival.  Consider this familiar excerpt from Scripture:

And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. [Is] not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

Joshua 10:13

To take this literally one must reject the heliocentric model of the universe.  Martin Luther, for example, used this verse as evidence of an earth-centered universe and to condemn Copernicus.  Today’s orthodox heirs to Luther, however, while rejecting evolution and modern cosmology, cannot find it within themselves to question heliocentrism.  So they simply brush the language in this verse off as metaphor saying that the properly interpreted it means that the Earth stopped rotating for one day before starting up again.  Leaving aside how they interpret it that way without the added scientific data to which Luther either did not have access or refused to examine, this interpretation is still fraught with error, as a simple exercise in freshman physics will reveal.

<begin light math>

The rotational inertia of a sphere is given by I=2 m r^2/5, where m and r are the mass and radius of the sphere respectively.  The rotational inertia of the earth is therefore

I= 2 (5.9742 x 10^42 kg) (6.3781 x 10^6 m)^2 / 5 = 9.7213 x 10^37 kg-m^2.

The kinetic energy of a rotating sphere is KE= I * omega^2/2 where omega is the rotational velocity of the sphere.  The earth rotates once every 24 hours, so its rotational velocity is

omega = (2 pi)/(24 hours * 3600 seconds/hr) = 7.2722 x 10^-5 rad/sec.

The energy stored in the rotating earth is thus

KE= (9.7213 x 10^37 kg-m^2) (7.2722 x 10^-5 rad/sec.)^2/2 = 2.5705 x 10^29 J.

That’s a lot of energy.  To put it into perspective, according to the CIA World Factbook the electrical energy consumption of the whole world in 2007 was 17.78 trillion kilowatt hours, or 6.4 x 10^19 J.  So the energy stored in the rotation of the earth is enough to power the electrical needs of the whole world for 2.5705 x 10^29 J / 6.4 x 10^19 J/yr = 4.02 x 10^9 yr.  So, God kindly granted Joshua enough energy to power the world’s economy for 4 billion years.  That may make Joshua’s war against the Amorites the most expensive war in all of history!

Or, to put it in terms of things the Old Testament god was more likely to do, imagine that the energy he applied to the earth that day was instead detonated evenly across the earth in fire and brimestone, or something.  The area of the earth is

A=4 pi (6.378×10^6 m)^2 = 5.112×10^14 m^2.

So, the godly energy per square meter was (2.5705×10^29 J)/(5.112×10^14 m^2) = 5.0284 x 10^14 J/m^2.

<end light math>

A megaton of TNT, the unit of measure for nuclear weapons, is 4.184 x 10^15 J.  Converting the energy density to megatons of TNT we get 0.120, or 120 kilotons per square meter.  So, the energy required to stop the earth is roughly the same amount of energy one would get by simultaneously detonating five hundred trillion 120 kiloton nuclear weapons (about 8 Hiroshimas) placed evenly across the surface of the entire planet. One wonders why he didn’t simply take a more economical approach and take out the bad guys with a more surgical strike.

The problem is that energy is not simply taken away from systems.  It has to go somewhere.  If the earth were to stop rotating the effects to the surface would be devastating.  When the vehicle you’re in suddenly goes from cruising velocity to rest you are quite aware of the effects.  Apologists will probably say here that Yahweh somehow protected the earth’s inhabitants from these deleterious effects, even though there is no mention of that anywhere in the Bible, other than to naively omit the high speed winds that would have simultaneously vaporized the armies of Israel and the Amorites.  They are thus reduced to once again using a supernatural explanation.  Why the contorted physical explanation in the first place?  Why not have Yahweh just poof the Amorites into vapor with his magic?  Why the obviously flawed natural explanation?

Those of you who would prefer to remain entranced by their dearest delusions would be well advised to remain ignorant.  Knowledge is a potent antidote to mysticism.