At 05:57 AM 4/26/00 +0000, glenn morton wrote:
>The only real piece of data Schaeffer presented that might point to a
>creator was the need for the water molecule to have precisely 1.84 Debye
>units for the dipole moment. He didn't explain it--just said it. Here he
>had some real evidence and left it lying on the rug like an unexplained
>stain.
The need can't be for precisely 1.84, since the dipole moment of the
isolated water molecule in the ground state is 1.855 Debye units (S.
Shostak et al., J. Chem. Phys., 94, 5875 (1991)). You find the 1.84 number
in old PChem texts, but there are better measurements now.
I know Fritz Schaefer [a fine scientist and fine Christian man, which of
course does not guarantee a good apologetic speaker], I think I'll e-mail
him and see if he can tell me where this argument came from. I know he is
a fan of Hugh Ross, so it would not surprise me if that were a Ross
argument. I've heard the argument that the expansion of water upon
freezing is essential for life, but that behavior depends on the
tetrahedral symmetry and hydrogen bonding and could happen with a range of
dipole moments.
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| Dr. Allan H. Harvey | aharvey@boulder.nist.gov |
| Physical and Chemical Properties Division | "Don't blame the |
| National Institute of Standards & Technology | government for what I |
| 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303 | say, or vice versa." |
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