Claim CE011.1:
Leap seconds have had to be inserted into the year twenty-two times
between 1970 and 1999, showing that the earth is slowing 0.77 seconds per
year. At this rate, the earth would have slowed to a stop if it were
billions of years old.
Source:
Huse, Scott, 1996. The Collapse of Evolution, Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, p. 25.
Response:
- Adding leap seconds nearly every year does not indicate that the earth
is slowing by nearly one second per year; it shows that there is a
discrepancy between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, an international
standard) and astronomical time (NIST Time and Frequency Division
n.d.). The earth is slowing down, but not at
such a great
rate. The length of a day now is very slightly more than twenty-four
hours. If the earth kept rotating at the same rate, leap seconds would
need to be inserted at the same rate they have been inserted in the
last thirty years.
Links:
Robinson, B. A., 2002. A failed attempt to dialog with creation scientists,
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_dialog.htm
References:
Further Reading:
NIST, updated monthly. NIST time scale data archive.
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/pubs/bulletin/leapsecond.htm
Thwaites, William M. and Frank T. Awbrey, 1982. As the world turns: Can
creationists keep time? Creation/Evolution IX (summer): 18-22,
http://www.natcenscied.org/resources/articles/9626_issue_09__volume_3_number_3__1_3_2003.asp
created 2003-4-21, modified 2003-9-16
