How Hard Was it Raining During the Flood? Could the Ark Survive?

How is it not adding to scripture to make a claim like this? You cannot get this kind of detail from the text. The text mentions mountains and it mentions 15 cubits of water. If the 15 cubits is from sea level, there would be no mention of mountains because even assuming the "long cubit" of Ezekiel we are talking about 30 feet. No one calls that a "mountain". So the 15 cubits must be over the tallest mountain. Now, where are we told there were no mountains as high as Mt. Everest? On edit: Even a text to the effect of: "The mountains were not as high in those days." would cut it. But I don't see anything like that. Do you? Edited by deerbreh, : No reason given.

Problem is you can't do the calculation assuming mountains "not as high as Mt. Everest" because we don't know how high that is. It is not 15 cubits because at most that is 30 feet and that is not a mountain in anybody's book.

It HAS to be that. Nothing else makes sense. But that is a problem. If you throw out the Everest number (which there is no scriptural justification for, as I pointed out to Faith), you are left with.....what? Nothing. Can't do the calculations.

Surface area of a sphere X height should approximate it fairly well. Use diameter of the earth. You should be able to Google the surface area of a sphere formula and the diameter of the earth. The earth is slightly flattened at the poles but the figure should be close enough. It is all guesswork anyway if we can't plug in the height of Everest.On edit: I see you have the surface area calculated in the OP. So the rest is simple.Edited by deerbreh, : No reason given.Edited by deerbreh, : No reason given.

There has to be a point of reference for the 15 cubits. It can't be sea level because that doesn't make sense. The only thing left is the tops of the mountains. You are avoiding the question of why we don't have to assume Everest existed based on the text. Anyway plugging in anything else "as the thread progresses" is just idle speculation - pretty much useless.

Ok, just for chuckles, what ARE the possibilities besides Everest, then? Which mountains existed before the Flood? You are the one rewriting geology. You tell us.

Well you are still avoiding the difficult questions but OK then, Everest is 29, 028 ft high. Add to that 30 feet and we have 29,058 feet. Change to miles we have 5.5 miles.Multiply by 197,000,000 square miles and we have:1,083,500,000 cubic miles.Now all we need is a calculation of the volume of the land above sea level. Subtract that number from mine and you will have an approximation of the cubic miles of water that fell as rain and came up from the deep. Then subtract your estimate of the amount that came up from the deep and you will have the volume of rain. Should be a cinch but I will let someone else do it and get the glory. Edited by deerbreh, : No reason given.

I think the problem with your method is you are not taking into account the volume displaced by the land and mountains which lies above sea level. Think of it as a giant bathtub with a big pile of dirt in the middle. It takes less water to fill it.

I think it is only total surface area that we need as the water has to fill in everywhere above sea level, including where water exists already.

Therein lies the rub. If one starts calculating the theoretical amount of water that the crust can hold, for example, I am sure a very large number can be obtained. However, how much of that water would have been "available" and what would have been the force propelling it to the surface? The force not only has to overcome gravity, but it also has to overcome adhesive and cohesive forces holding the water right where it is. These questions are pretty much unknowable, so, as with all attempts to "rationalize" the Flood, this one is bound to fail as well.

And assuming most of that is fountains of the deep - which are mentioned as opening first, then the rain started, the size of the tidal waves generated is mind boggling. The ark would have been carried right across the continent and slammed into those mountains it seems. So I don't think the main problem for Noah would have been the rate of the rainfall so much as the waves generated by those fountains opening up.

Ok. volume of a sphere = 4/3 x pi x (radius cubed)diameter of earth = 7926 miles; radius = 3963 miles
radius of earth + everest = 3963 + 5.5 = 3968.5 milesouter volume = 4/3 x 3.14 x (3968.5 cubed) = 261,666,130,000
inner volume = 4/3 x 3.14 x (3963 cubed) = 260,579,700,000
difference = 1,086,430,000 cu milesActually the same as what I got before considering rounding errors I think. Think of it as a whole bunch of cylinders abbutting each other in every direction around the earth.
On edit: No I think you are correct Jar. So this number I got here should be more accurate. Edited by deerbreh, : No reason given.Edited by deerbreh, : No reason given.

By George I think he's got it. So, if we say that the "fountains of the deep" are actually snow melt, then we need some historical estimate of the maximum flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Actually we are in luck. I found a reference which discusses the Tigris River. Apparently the Tigris is subject to more catastrophic flooding than the Euphrates and the record is a rise of 27 feet in 1954.
http://www.jameswbell.com/a008thetigrisriver.htmlSo let's be conservative and double that - let's say it is possible to explain a 54 foot rise in water from mountain snow melt. Then it started to rain. How fast did the rain come down to pile up enough water to cover Everest with 15 cubits (30 feet) in 40 days. If we make the snow melt (fountains of the deep) 58 feet, we are left with exactly 29,000 feet of water in 40 days or 960 hours.
29,000/960 = 30.2 feet/hour or roughly 6 inches/minute. Seems like we had that before but this time it is all rain. Hopefully the ark roof did not leak and the deck was completely covered. Otherwise that baby is going to sink the first hour.

Ok, let's use the new numbers.Snow melt (fountains of the deep) = max of 54 feet.
28,940 - 54 = 28,886 ft
28,886/960 = 30.1 feet/hour - much more likely!
Actually still approximately 6 inches per minute.Maybe the pitch will keep the roof from leaking for the first 20 days or so? So the ark won't sink until day 21.

Ok, an alternative view then is that enough water came from the fountains of the deep to cover the land with three miles of water. That still leaves approximately 2.5 miles of water to fall as rain. So:
2.5 miles = 13200 feet; divide by 960 = 13.8 feet per hour for 40 days. So we are down to 2.76 inches per minute for 40 days. I still think that baby is going to sink. Furthermore, where did the 2.5 miles of water go after the flood? Three miles of water goes back into the oceans in this scenario. You still have 2.5 miles of water to account for.And we are not even getting into the havoc that would result from the shape of the earth changing from a perfect sphere to a flattened sphere in a time span of less than a year. Maybe the ark was flung into orbit after all.