We all know the story of Noah's Ark. Most people believe it is not real but a fair number believe it is 100% accurate. Here through the wonder of ASCII Vision we shall explore the Ark and why it couldn't have happened. The Size And Build Of The Ark ___________________________ /___________________________\ _|___________________________|_ | __ | | |__| :F_P: | |_____________________________| |-- 300 cubits/450 feet ------| ######################################Tue Feb 14 2006################# Noah's Ark The Ark was built in 3402 and 2462 BC. At this time the earliest pyramids where already standing but any large scale project, i.e. building an ark, that didn't involve thousands of people moving stones about was not going to happen. We were just entering the Bronze age and China was developing water based inks that wouldn't survive too well in the coming flood but managed to survive just fine since their wasn't one. The ark was 300x40x30 cubits. In modern terms it was huge. In ancient terms it is would have been the single largest wooden structure to have ever been built. It displaced 40,000 to 45,000 tons depending on if it was a "box" or if it had slanted sides. Lets give you some size comparisons. __ __ __ __ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ ________ ___---------------------------------. _________ \_ .....\__)::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::\__/........| )'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''| ( :F_P: / \______________________________________________________.-' |--------------- 882 ft 6 in --------------------------------| ######################################Tue Feb 14 2006################# Titanic While Titanic was longer it wasn't much bigger. It displaced 46,328 tons. Not a big difference but it is one heck of a stretching of ones faith to think that the worlds best engineers couldn't build a ship with that much displacement until 4500 years after the Ark. Additionally the Titanic was made of steel. The Iron required for it was cheap but in Noah's time iron was so new that it cost more than gold and was used only for ceremonial items. He couldn't have used gold without all the wealth of Solomon and even then wouldn't have been of much help since there wasn't one master blacksmith in the whole world who could match the skill of your modern hobbyist. | | | + -\_+'\ | _ +-\ _-\.' \ \+' |__ _.-\ |\ |' \ | | | || | \ | | | | | | | \ | L|_| | | | | | |__| ___ \____|_______|--_________ | `---.___________/ | \ :F_P: / `-______________________./ |- 400? feet - 10,000 T--| ######################################Tue Feb 14 2006################# Zheng He Zheng He was a Chinese merchant of the 15th century. He built a fleet like no other for the time. All of which were wooden ships that had all the perks of 15th century construction. Some reports put he larger ships in his fleet just a bit shorter than the Ark but with one quarter the displacment. The key words there are 'some reports'. Not everyone agrees on the length so it may have been smaller. Built in the 15th C they still can't make a 450 foot ship with all the know how of the Chinese masters of the sea and all the advantages of being past the Iron Age. This is, at the very least, 4000 years after Noah built his Ark. Oh, and it had sails. . . . | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _. __ | | | | | |____.--' \_`-------------------' / \ :F_P: / `--------------------' |-329 feet 3,730 ST -| ######################################Tue Feb 14 2006################# Wyoming Largest modern wooden ship is the 1909 Wyoming. It had iron bracings, sails and a steam engin. This ship sufferd the same problem that all large wooden ships have. It leaked. Wood swells in water. It contracst in cold and expands in heat. Even with the worlds best enginears one could not make a 40,000 wooden ship that would floot for 8 months. It would sink in no time. Try it, I know you won't. With iron we can do really cool things like make 941 feet oil tankers that displace 185 thousand tons. But Noah didn't have that kind of resources. He was stuck using good old fashioned gopher wood. A wood so rare it doesn't exist in any other text. I spent a lot of time talking about how the Ark compares to newer ships. I forgot to mention how it compaired to craft of its time. The aveage craft in 3000 BC came in two forms. O /|\ O _|___ ____\______ // \ / \____\____/ Canoe /____/ Raft U :F_P:#################################Mon Feb 20 2006################# Old Boats Average Tonnage is ~0. :F_P:#################################Wed Feb 21 2006################# # Noah and the Ark Part 1
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