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To: curiosity
"Well, lets look at this for a momnet. Does life depend on the existence of elements heavier than lead? "

No, lead and elements heavier than it are incapable of supporting life.

"I don't think so. Most of life is made of carbon. Nitrogen, oxygen, sodium, potassium, and magnisium are other common elements in organisms."

Your point being? You still haven't contradicted that these won't decay into elements resembling lead.

" I'm no organic chemist, but I can't think of a single element heavier than lead that's makes up a part of any living organism. "

Still no contradiction.

"In fact, I'll take it a step further: elements heavier than lead tend to be rather rare in nature, and where they do exist there are plenty of natural explanations for how they were formed."

It doesn't matter if the elements are heavier, the word "decay" is being misused. Other elements will eventually convert into elements not capable of supporting life given an infinite amount of time.

"I believe in God, but I've come to the conclusion that it's probably not possible to prove his existence scientifically. Of course, I could be wrong, so I'm happy to consider any "proofs" you might have to offer. This proof seems pretty lacking, though."

Well, I'm glad to know this. As of this moment however, I am winning the argument.
15 posted on 02/14/2005 7:50:18 PM PST by conservative_crusader (The voice of truth, tells me a different story. The voice of truth says do not be afraid.)
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To: conservative_crusader
Okay, maybe I don't remember my nuclear chemistry very well, but from what I remember, elements lighter than lead mostly exist in isotopes that are stable and not radioactive, and hence are not decaying into anything. Therefore you'd expect a lot of these elements to be lying around if the universe were infinitely lived.

Yes, there exist some radioactive isotopes of lighter elements, such as Carbon 14, but they don't decay into lead. Cabon 14 decays into nitrogen, which in turn is stable and doesn't decay into anything. Cosmic radiation can turn Nitrogen into Carbon 14, but Nitrogen itself does not spontaneously decay into anything. Therefore, we'd expect to see lots of nitrogen and carbon lying around even if the universe were infinitely lived.

So unless my memory of nuclear chemistry is way off, which is possible, I admit, your argument does not hold water.

If I got the science wrong, please feel free to correct me.

17 posted on 02/14/2005 8:59:42 PM PST by curiosity
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