Is this Noah's Ark?

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Some people claim that this photo of a boat-shaped formation near Mount Ararat in Turkey shows Noah's Ark.

If you know the Bible account, you know that Noah's Ark was the huge boat that protected Noah and his family during the yearlong flood that covered the whole earth. It landed on the mountains of Ararat, which lie in extreme eastern Turkey.

Like the Bigfoot photo in this series of DinosaurCam, this photo is obviously not a dinosaur, and neither is it a fake. But because of the spectacular claim that it may be Noah's Ark, you need to know why it is not.

    * The real Ark landed on “the mountains of Ararat.” Mount Ararat consists of two mountains, or peaks, called Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat. This boat-shaped formation is on neither of those mountains.
    * The shape of this formation is like a modern fossilized boat, but it does not fit the dimensions of Noah's Ark given in the Bible (length six times its width). The Bible says the width was 50 cubits (75 feet or 22.5 meters). That means it was rectangular, not pointed at the ends, but you can see the formation pictured is only a few meters wide at the ends, not 50 cubits. This formation's width is all wrong.
    * Bible-believing geologists have thoroughly examined this object and found it is made of different types of rock. If it were the Ark it would contain fossilized wood, but it doesn't. Some people thought they found fossilized wood in it in the 1980s, but it turned out to be basalt (a volcanic rock).
    * The streamlined, pointed shape of the rock formation is unlike what Bible scholars and creationist scientists believe the Ark was like. They believe the real Ark had squared-off ends. It only had to float, and squared-off ends are the most stable shape. The Ark was not going anywhere, because it was merely a vessel for keeping alive the representative animals that God sent to Noah for preservation. So pointed ends would not be practical.
    * Three other formations in the shape of the false Noah's Ark Other rock formations in the area are the same shape as the formation above, but they are of different sizes. The Turkish Air Force released the photo at right that shows three similar “ark” shapes on Lesser Mount Ararat. Supporters of the formation pictured at the top of this page chose it only because its length roughly matches the real Ark's length. They ignore the smaller, similar geological formations. All these formations seem to have formed when volcanic material flowed down the mountain.
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(Color photo: John Baumgardner. Black and white photo: Turkish Air Force)

Creation magazine published an exhaustive report by respected Australian geologist Dr. Andrew A. Snelling in its issue of September-November 1992. The 13-page report looked at the claims of the late Ron Wyatt, who was the prime lobbyist for this site's being the Ark. Dr. Snelling worked with other creationist geologists who had examined the site, and the overwhelming scientific opinion was that this rock formation is not the Ark
How big was Noah’s Ark?
Quick-read this article:
Noah's Ark was taller than a 3-story building and had a deck area the size of 36 lawn tennis courts. Its length was 300 cubits (450 feet, or 135 meters); its width was 50 cubits (75 feet, or 22.5 meters); it had three stories and its height was 30 cubits (45 feet, or 13.5 meters).
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Noah's Ark was huge! If you wrongly imagine the Ark looked like some of those little cartoon boats in children's story books, with a couple of elephants' trunks and giraffes' necks sticking out the top, think again.

Genesis 6:15 in the Bible tells us the Ark's dimensions were at least 135 meters long (300 cubits), 22.5 meters wide (50 cubits), and 13.5 meters high (30 cubits). That's 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high! It could have been larger, because several larger-sized cubits were used. But the 45-centimeter (18-inch) cubit is long enough to show the enormous size of the Ark.

(A cubit was the length of a man's arm from fingertips to elbow.)
Higher than a 3-story building!

Noah's Ark was three stories high (Genesis 6:16). Its total deck area was equivalent to the area of about 20 standard college basketball courts or 36 lawn tennis courts. The world had to wait until AD 1884 before the Ark's size was exceeded, when the Italian liner Eturia was built.

The rectangular dimensions of the Ark show an advanced design in ship-building. Its length of six times its width and 10 times its height would have made it amazingly stable on the ocean. Remember it was made more for floating than sailing, because it wasn't headed anywhere. The Ark was made to withstand a turbulent ocean voyage, not to be at a certain place at a certain time.

Recent thought on the Ark's design is that it could have had a slightly tapered top at the front and back, instead of being squared off. But the famous rock formation near Mount Ararat with pointed ends, which some think is Noah's Ark, is almost certainly not!
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel pictureInterestingly, British civil and mechanical engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel built a steamship (the Great Britain) in 1843 that had almost the same proportions as the Ark, although it was smaller. This was regarded as a remarkable feat of Victorian and maritime engineering. The Great Britain was the first large vessel to be propelled by a screw propeller.
Babylonian Ark fails test

The ancient Babylonians had a flood story too, and it may have been a corrupted version of the biblical account. The ark in the Babylonian story was shaped like a cube, which would had made it unseaworthy.

This shows the difference between truth and badly recorded legends. The Bible's Ark was able to carry all the animals God sent to Noah, it was wonderfully seaworthy, it landed on a mountain that is still identifiable today, and the whole story is credible scientifically.

Because of this, there are many thousands of scientists who believe the Bible's account of the Ark and the worldwide Flood, but none (as far as we know) who seriously defends the Babylonian story as scientifically trustworthy.
End of section
Christian teachers and homeschoolers:
Want an interesting student activity?

If you want a classroom activity for Christian schools, you can show your students how big Noah's Ark was by measuring it out on your school grounds or in a large park.

First get your students to measure out a cubit, which is the unit of length the Bible uses. Cubits were roughly the length of a man's arm, although they varied from about 45 centimeters (18 inches) to 56 centimeters (22 inches). A 45cm (18-inch) cubit will show the minimum length, although you can use a longer one if you have room.

When you have your cubit (it can be marked on anything, but a piece of wood or pipe cut to size would do), measure out 300 of them to show the length of Noah's Ark. Get some students to stand between the two points. Do the same with the width, which was 50 cubits. If you can also measure 30 cubits upwards (say on your school's wall if it is at least four stories high, or to the top of a tall tree), all the better.

When the students see how huge the Ark was, reinforce some of the points given in the article above. You could also read over the Bible account of the Flood from the book of Genesis. You could even make a hollow cube out of cardboard or paper to represent the Babylonian “ark”, and show how unstable it would be in the water compared to the real Ark.

Your students may also like to make their own model ark out of wood or cardboard using a scale model of the dimensions given in the Bible (Genesis 6:14 onwards). The Bible model has been made and thoroughly tested many times and has been found to be extremely stable.

Here is information on making a scale model of Noah's Ark.

You can even buy kits that allow you to make scale models of the Ark:

Creation Science Resources has a 6-foot model you can make.

Noah's Ark Net sells smaller models your students will enjoy making.

Ark Builders.com has even simpler models to make.

How did all the animals fit on Noah’s Ark?
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When someone asks you how at least two of every kind of animal in the world could have fitted on Noah's Ark, ask them: “How big was the Ark, and how many animals had to fit on it?” They almost certainly won't know, but if they work it out they will find there was plenty of room for the animals and food.

Genesis 6:15 in the Bible tells us Noah's Ark was at least 135 meters long (300 cubits), 22.5 meters wide (50 cubits), and 13.5 meters high (30 cubits). It could have been larger because several larger-sized cubits were used. But the 45-centimeter (18-inch) cubit is long enough to show the enormous size of the Ark.
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A cubit was the length of a man's arm from fingertips to elbow.
Huge deck area
Elephants

Noah's Ark was three stories high (Genesis 6:16). This made its total deck area equivalent to the area of about 36 lawn tennis courts. The average size of animal is about the size of an adult sheep. From this, scientists have calculated that the Ark could have held about 522 railroad stock cars full of sheep-sized animals. This is eight freight trains with 65 carriages on each!

Remember too that not every creature went on the Ark. Fish and other sea creatures didn't go on, and they account for a very large percentage of the world's animals. It was only land-dwelling, air-breathing animals that went on the Ark — and even many of them are very small, such as spiders, worms, beetles, etc.

When we realize that not every type of butterfly, snake, kangaroo, or whatever had to go on board — only the major “kinds” — we find that there might have been only about 35,000 animals on board.

So the question is not so much how did they all fit, but what did Noah use all the left-over room for?


How did dinosaurs fit on Noah’s Ark?
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Many people think dinosaurs were all huge animals that could peer over the tops of tall trees. But many dinosaurs were small. Some were about the size of young chickens, and some (like Mussaurus) were not much bigger than the dinosaur tooth pictured at right.

Obviously Noah wasn't going to stuff a pair of 30-meter high dinosaurs in the Ark, even though Noah's Ark was huge. So what did he do?

Small dinosaurs would fit on the Ark easily. And remember that even the largest adult dinosaurs started their lives as small babies.

In the late 1970s, skeletons and eggs of tiny juvenile Mussaurus dinosaurs were found in Patagonia in southern Argentina. Mussaurus means “mouse reptile”, and the name is apt because the best-preserved Mussaurus skeleton is so small it fits comfortably in a human hand.

New Scientist of 6 December, 2000 announced the discovery of fossils of the smallest known adult dinosaur. These “microraptors” were only 39 centimeters (15 inches) long — 24 centimeters (9½ inches) of which were its tail.

We don't know how many species of dinosaur God sent to Noah to take on the Ark. If the largest types were included, they were probably taken when they were still youngish but able to mate. Many animals can mate long before they are fully grown.
End of section.
Christian teachers: Want a classroom activity?

If you are a teacher in a Christian school, you can let your students have some fun while they learn about dinosaurs with this activity.
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Tell them about the mouse dinosaurs and microraptors mentioned above. Tell them these Mussaurus and microraptor dinosaurs were so small they would fit in their hands like a mouse would.

Also show them a football and tell them that the largest dinosaur eggs ever found were not much bigger than this football, so even the huge dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex and Apatosaurus were once extremely small.
Picture of Triceratops

Then show your students a picture of a Triceratops dinosaur, like the one above. (Even better, you may be able to get a small Triceratops model or poster from your local museum or zoo.)

Now get your students to form an outline of a life-size Triceratops either in the classroom or outside. Adult Triceratops were around 8 meters (25 feet) long from top to tail. Get one or more students to stand on its “nose,” then measure 8 meters (25 feet) or pace out 8 or 9 big strides and get another student to stand on the tip of the “tail.”

Get two of your larger students to stand where its huge back legs would be (about two-thirds of the way along from the nose), and another two where the front legs would be (about a third to half the total length from the nose). Organize other students to fit around the rest of the shape. It doesn't have to be exactly accurate as long as they get the idea of the enormous size of the dinosaur.

Let them take turns at standing on a chair, table, or ladder if they want to so they can look down to get a better idea of the length. Have the “tail” wave to the “nose” to emphasize the distance.

Emphasize that God created all the dinosaurs, from the tiniest to the largest. Evolutionists have never found evidence that one type of dinosaur evolved into another; there are no tiny animals evolving into mussauruses or microraptors, or any other mid-sized dinosaurs evolving into Triceratops for example.
Dinosaur facts

While they are grasping the huge size of Triceratops, you can remind them about the tiny mouse-reptile Mussaurus, and the football-sized eggs, and tell them a few other interesting dinosaur facts, such as:

    * The horns above the eyes of Triceratops were sometimes one meter (3 feet) long.
    * Tri means three, and cera means horn. Can they guess how Triceratops got its name?
    * Triceratops was a plant-eater. It did not eat meat. Ask what it would have eaten and how much the students think it would need to eat.
    * The upper part of its mouth was beak-like in the front, which probably nipped off tree branches or other vegetation.
    * An adult Triceratops might have weighed nine tonnes (tons), or perhaps as much as 18 horses.

Remind your students that the Bible says at least two of every kind of animal went on Noah's Ark, and ask how the huge dinosaurs like Triceratops would have fitted.

They will remember this demonstration for a long time!

Did bats go on Noah’s Ark?
Bats are the only mammals that truly fly. There are around 900 species of them, and you can find them almost everywhere around the world.

Bat guano (droppings) makes great agricultural fertilizer, and bats can live more than 20 years.

Some Christians ask whether bats went on Noah's Ark. They ask this because Genesis 6:20 says that on to Noah's Ark went every kind of fowl (bird), cattle, and creeping thing.

Bats don't fall into any of those three groups, so did they all die in the worldwide Flood, and if so, how come there are bats around today?

Pic of bat hanging upside downThe answer is that the Hebrew word for “fowl” (owph, pronounced “oaf”) means not only birds, but anything covered with wings.

That means bats, birds, and even the large extinct flying reptiles, the pterosaurs, went on board the Ark. And that's why they are around today.

End of section

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Lets Know Noah is Fake?:o

[[i] Last edited by  doctor420 at 2-22-2008 02:34 [/i]]