Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site utastro.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!mordor!ut-sally!utastro!ethan From: ethan@utastro.UUCP (Ethan Vishniac) Newsgroups: net.origins Subject: Re: Creationist arguments, PART I Message-ID: <1010@utastro.UUCP> Date: Mon, 11-Feb-85 18:02:21 EST Article-I.D.: utastro.1010 Posted: Mon Feb 11 18:02:21 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 14-Feb-85 02:48:31 EST References: <204@cmu-cs-gandalf.ARPA> <3570003@csd2.UUCP> <312@psivax.UUCP> Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX Lines: 37 [Replace this message with your line] > >On `The Living Planet' the other night, they mentioned colonies > >of life which are totally unsupported by photosynthesis. > >They live on the deep ocean floor, around ruptures in the earth's surface. > >Bacteria live on the gases ejected, other life forms live on the bacteria, > >and so on. > You are I suppose talking about chemosynthetic bacteria. > This is still an *open* system, that is it is getting its energy > outside. In this case the source of energy is the heat differential > between the surface of the Earth and its interior. Furthermore > this sort of energy metabolism represents a *very* small portion > of the total energy processed by living things, so it is of little > significance in determining the application of the second law of > thermodynamics to living systems. Actually, this came up before in this discussion. It was before net.origins when this was being argued in net.misc. The energy source in question is the heat in the core of the Earth, which is supplied by the decay of radioactive material. I pointed out that these seafloor communities are the only present example of terrestrial communities subsisting entirely on nuclear energy. To my chagrin someone else (I wish I could remember who) pointed out that I was forgetting the families of employees of the nuclear power industry. ***************************************************************** This is a generic disclaimer. As such it may contain unsightly impurities. However, these impurities are guaranteed to be purely cosmetic. They should have no effect on the functioning of the disclaimer. ***************************************************************** "Don't argue with a fool. Ethan Vishniac Borrow his money." {charm,ut-sally,ut-ngp,noao}!utastro!ethan Department of Astronomy University of Texas Austin, Texas 78712