• Excerpt from Genesis Chapter 6 [NIV]

14
So make yourself an ark of cypress [c] wood; make rooms in it and coat
it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is
to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. [d] 16 Make a roof for
it and finish [e] the ark to within 18 inches [f] of the top. Put a door in
the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am
going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the
heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on
earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you
will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons'
wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living
creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of
every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature
that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You
are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as
food for you and for them."
• Claim:
It’s impossible to fit every species of animal into the ark.

• Claim:
There would be evidence of a global flood.

• Claim:
A wooden boat that size couldn’t survive a violent global flood.

• Claim:
If the Bible gives the location of the ark then it should be possible
to find its remains.
• Impossible to fit every animal into the ark
This can be broken into a series of questions and statements
regarding the validity of the Biblical account of the flood.

There are too many species of animals on earth to possibly fit in the ark.

What about all the food these animals would need to eat?

What about all the waste these animals create? The smell would be
awful.

The post-flood ground would be too salty for plants to grow.

• Impossible to fit every animal into the ark
Too many species of animals on earth to possibly fit in the ark.

Taxonomists -- biologists who specialize in identifying and classifying life

on the planet -- have named approximately 1.7 million species so far.
The rest of life on earth—yields a figure of 3 to 5 million species.

This can be broken into various types:

There are 1,017,018 species of insects in the world.
There are 175,300 aquatic species excluding the 838,000 arthropod
species capable of surviving in water.
The numbers for bacteria, birds and land animals fluctuate greatly.
(One Norwegian study found between 4000 and 5000 bacterial species in a single
gram of soil.)
• Too many species to fit in the ark
True, but the Bible doesn’t say species, it says kinds.

So what kinds of animals would need to be brought into the ark?

In the original Hebrew, the word for ‘beast’ and ‘cattle’ in these passages
is the same: behemah, and it refers to land vertebrate animals in
general. The word for ‘creeping things’ is remes, which has a number
of different meanings in Scripture, but here it probably refers to
reptiles.
Seven pairs of clean animals:
The term ‘clean animal’ was not defined until the Mosaic Law. But since
Moses was also the compiler of Genesis, if we follow the principle that
‘Scripture interprets Scripture’, the Mosaic Law definitions can be
applied to Noah’s situation. There are actually very few ‘clean’ land
animals listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.
• Too many species to fit in the ark
Noah would have classified kinds by what we call genus.

John Woodmorappe’s book Noah’s Ark: a Feasibility Study identifies

8000 genera, including extinct genera, totaling approximately 16,000
animals aboard the ark.

Another interesting question posed by skeptics is: How could dinosaurs

fit in the ark?

There are 668 supposed dinosaur genera, although this number is

probably exaggerated. Only 106 genera weighed more than ten tons
when fully grown.
• Too many species to fit in the ark
Dinosaurs are too tall and can’t fit in the ark.

The Bible does not say that the animals had to be fully grown. The
largest animals were probably represented by ‘teenage’ or even
younger specimens. The median size of all animals on the ark would
actually have been that of a small rat, according to Woodmorappe‘s
up-to-date tabulations, while only about 11 % would have been much
larger than a sheep.
• Impossible to fit every animal into the ark
Can all those genera fit into a 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet
high ark?

Its volume was 43,500 m3 (cubic metres)

or 1.54 million cubic feet. To put this in
perspective, this is the equivalent volume of 522 standard American
railroad stock cars, each of which can hold 240 sheep.

If the animals were kept in cages with an average size of 50x50x30

centimetres (20x20x12 inches), that is 75,000 cm3 (cubic centimetres)
or 4800 cubic inches, the 16,000 animals would only occupy 1200 m3
(42,000 cubic feet) or 14.4 stock cars.
• Impossible to fit every animal into the ark
Can all those genera fit into a 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet
high ark?

Even if a million insect species had to be

on board, it would not be a problem,
because they require little space. If each pair was kept in cages of 10 cm
(four inches) per side, or 1000 cm3, all the insect species would
occupy a total volume of only 1000 m3, or another 12 cars.

These could also carry all the bacterial and viral germs that had to
survive the flood. Not to mention the ability of animals to be reservoir
hosts for disease (carry the disease but not show signs of sickness).
• Impossible to fit every animal into the ark
Can all those genera fit into a 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet
high ark?

This would leave room for 495.6 cars

for food, Noah’s family and ‘range’ for
the animals.
It would be possible to stack cages, with food on top or nearby (to
minimize the amount of food carrying the humans had to do), to fill up
more of the Ark space, while still allowing plenty of room for gaps for
air circulation.
By my own math, even if 48,000 animals were on the ark, this would only
occupy 3,600 m3 leaving 466.8 stock cars worth of extra space.
• What about all the food these animals need?
Food takes up a lot of space, not to mention drinking water for all
the animals.

The Ark would probably have carried compressed and dried foodstuffs,
and probably a lot of concentrated food. Perhaps Noah fed the cattle
mainly on grain, plus some hay for fiber. Woodmorappe calculated
that the volume of foodstuffs would have been only about 15 % of the
Ark’s total volume. Drinking water would only have taken up 9.4 % of
the volume. This volume would be reduced further if rainwater was
collected and piped into troughs.

Now remember the animal cages took up 5 % of the ark’s total volume.
This combined with ~25 % for food and water leaves 70 % of the ark
space free for moving about. Even 48,000 animals only accounts for
11 %. This coupled with 75 % for food leaves 14 % extra space.
• What about all the animal excrement?
All that waste would need to be cleaned up and removed. Not to
mention the smell.

It is doubtful whether the humans had to clean the cages every morning.
Possibly they had sloped floors or slatted cages, where the manure
could fall away from the animals and be flushed away (plenty of water
around!) or destroyed by vermicomposting (composting by worms)
which would also provide earthworms as a food source. Very deep
bedding can sometimes last for a year without needing a change.
Absorbent material (e.g. sawdust and softwood wood shavings) would
reduce the moisture content and hence the odor.
• Post-flood ground too salty for growth.
Because of the global flooding with sea water the land would be
salinated.

Woodmorappe points out that salt can be readily leached out by

rainwater.

This desalination process could easily be undertaken during the period

when Noah continues to send out birds to look for land.
• There would be evidence of a global flood.
If the water covered even the tallest mountains then we should see
aquatic evidence at their peaks.

Seashells and other marine fossils

have been found on mountaintops,
even very tall ones. These indicate that the sea once covered the
mountains, which is evidence for a global flood.
(http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CC/CC364.html)

Other evidence, such as fossilized tracks and burrows of marine

organisms, show that the region was once under the sea. Seashells
are not found in sediments that were not formerly covered by sea.

There are marine fossils near the top of Mount Everest.

• There would be evidence of a global flood.
Geologists would find evidence of a mass extinction due to
flooding.

Benjamin Silliman, head of the geology department of Yale University:

Respecting the Deluge, there can be but one opinion: geology fully
confirms the Scriptural history of the event . . . Whales, sharks, and other
fishes, crocodiles and amphibians, the mammoth and the extinct
elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, hyenas, tigers, deer, horses,
the various species of the bovine family and a multitude more, are found
buried in diluvium at a greater or less depth; and in most instances under
circumstances indicating that they were buried by the same catastrophe
which destroyed them: namely a sudden and violent deluge.
• There would be evidence of a global flood.
All that flood water would still be present today.

Earth’s surface area: 510,065,600 km2

This is enough water to cover the earth

to a height of 2.7 km or 1.7 miles.

Issue: Mount Everest is 5.49 miles high.

And the Bible says the water rose and
covered the mountains to a depth of
more than twenty feet.

Gleick, P. H., 1996: Water resources. In Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather

• Not enough water to cover the mountains
Everest is too tall to be covered by the earth’s available water supply.

The Bible gives an answer of course: (Psalm 104)

6
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7
But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8
they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.

He made valleys for the waters to recede into. To make a valley one
needs to dig a hole. To dig a hole one needs to pile up dirt. The
mountains are taller today because God dug out valleys.
• The boat couldn’t make it through the flood
A wooden boat that size would tip over or break apart.

Noah's Ark was said to have been

the largest sea-going vessel ever
built until the late nineteenth
century when giant metal ships
were first constructed. Its length
to width ratio of six to one provided excellent stability on the high seas. In
fact, modern shipbuilders say it would have been almost impossible to
turn over. In every way, it was admirably suited for riding out the
tremendous storms in the year of the flood.
(http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c013.html)
• Should be able to find the remains of the boat
The Bible lists the resting place of the ark at the mountains of
Ararat.

Many written accounts describe viewing the ark:

Theophilus of Antioch (c. 115-185), stated, "and of

the ark, the remains are to this day to be seen in the
Arabian mountains." A similar statement is made by
Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 315-403), who said, "Do you seriously
suppose that we are unable to prove our point, when even to this day the
remains of Noah's Ark are shown in the country of the Kurds?"
• Should be able to find the remains of the boat
More written accounts of finding the ark:

Chrysostom (c. 345-407), wrote, "Have you

heard of the Flood--of that universal
destruction? That was not just a threat, was it?
Did it not really come to pass--was not this
mighty work carried out? Do not the
mountains of Armenia testify to it, where the Ark rested? And are not the
remains of the Ark preserved there to this very day for our admonition?"

Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636) wrote: "Ararat is a mountain in Armenia,

where the historians testify that the Ark came to rest after the Flood. So
even to this day wood remains of it are to be seen there."
• Should be able to find the remains of the boat
Recent accounts of finding the ark:

In 1905, a ten-year-old Armenian boy,

Georgie Hagopian, went with his uncle
from Azerbajain in Old Persia to Mount
Ararat and saw Noah's ark.
He said he even climbed up on its roof.
He submitted to and passed a lie-detector test.

In 1916, during the First World War, a Russian airman, W. Roskovitsky,

flying over Mt. Ararat, stated that he had observed on one of the slopes
of Mt. Ararat the remains of an ancient vessel.
• Should be able to find the remains of the boat
More recent accounts of finding the ark:
Six Turkish soldiers climbed Ararat and saw the ark in 1916.

In the 1930s a New Zealander, Hardwicke Knight, stumbled upon the

remains of Noah's ark. Then, in 1952, George Jefferson Greene took
photographs of Noah's ark from a helicopter.

Donald Liedmann met a Russian Air Force major in 1938 and 1943 who
showed him pictures of the ark.

Chuck Aaron and Bob Garbe photographed the ark during a September
15, 1989 flight.
• Conclusion
The Biblical account is scientifically plausible.

There is enough room to fit all the animals needed to repopulate the
earth, as well as, food and water.

The design of the ark is perfectly suited for survival through a tempest.

The earth itself shows signs of a global flood in history.

The Biblical location of the ark is corroborated by eye witness testimony

and archeological evidence.