Science Article
March 2000
Living Waters
By William Browing
The Bible speaks of water as a source of life. “He [Jesus] would have given you Living Water” –John 4:10. In this scripture, water is symbolic of eternal life. It is a wonderful metaphor, because it compares life to the fundamental material that God uses to create and sustain life on earth: water. Scientific evidence shows that water is essential for life--without water, life on earth would be impossible. This is why interplanetary exploration in search of extra-terrestrial life has become a search for water, such as with recent Mars probes. But few realize how ideally suited water is for life. What is amazing are the various ways in which water is so uniquely designed to serve its biological role as the fluid medium for life on earth.
Water forms the fluid matrix for all the vital chemical and physical interactions upon which life depends. If the activities of the cell were the movements of pieces on a chessboard, then water would be the board. Most organisms are made up of more than 50 percent water; in the case of man, water makes up more than 70 percent of the weight of the body.
Anthropic Principle. Physicists such as Freeman Dyson, Fred Hoyle and Paul Davies have pointed out that the existence of life in the cosmos is critically dependent on the laws and constants of physics having their precise values. The values are so critical that these well known authors have argued that the universe gives every appearance of having been very finely adjusted for our existence (the ‘Anthropic Principle’). Davies claims that the evidence requires scientists to accept that the universe has been set up with a cooperation of matter, motion, and physical laws with astonishing precision. "The impression of design is overwhelming."(1)
As creationists, we are not surprised! (See Isaiah 45:18 “He formed the earth to be inhabited.”) Roger Penrose has estimated the precision which this fine tuning of physical constants must be: “. . . how precise the Creator's aim must have been, namely to an accuracy of one part in ten raised to the power 10 123 . This is an extraordinary figure--one could not possibly even write the number down in full in the ordinary denary notation.” (2)
Today, the idea of an ideal environment for life on earth is being extended to the biological sciences. The physical "coincidences" do not stop with the energy levels of the carbon and oxygen atom. They extend into chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, and into the very fabric of life itself. In his book Nature’s Destiny, Dr. Michael Denton deals with such evidence drawn from many areas of the biological sciences. (3) These sciences have revealed an integrated set of design parameters in the chemical and physical properties of water and in many other of the key constituents of life--of precisely the kind that one might expect to find if the universe is indeed the product of an intricate design effort intended to support life.
Water gives every appearance of being uniquely designed for the type of carbon-based life that exists on earth. Every one of its chemical and physical properties seems optimally fit for life, as well as for the generation and maintenance of a stable chemical and physical environment on the earth. If the properties of water were not almost precisely what they are, carbon-based life would not be possible. No other fluid even approaches water as the ideal medium for life.
Thermal Properties of Water. As creationists, we stand in awe of the elegant providence apparent in the way the various thermal properties of water are integrated together by God to achieve so many different life-sustaining functions.
a. Expands when freezing. Water has a maximum density at 4 deg. C. Below that temperature, it expands. Thus, the densest material at the bottom of lake is liquid, and freezing water rises to the top where it crystallizes into solid form. In the very act of freezing, additional expansion takes place. Thus water is not bound up in vast beds of submarine ice. This expansion property is practically unique to water, and when discovered was thought to violate a “natural law” (the thermal expansion of matter). Without this special characteristic, marine life would perish as the lakes froze solid.
b. The latent heat of freezing of water is one of the highest of all known fluids, and its latent heat of evaporation is the highest of any fluid in the ambient temperature range. Without these properties, the climate would be subject to far more rapid temperature changes--lakes and rivers would vanish and reappear constantly. Warm-blooded animals would have difficulty removing excess heat from their bodies, which rely on evaporative cooling as the primary means of temperature control. Water evaporation operates powerfully to equalize and moderate earth’s temperature. Thermal energy from the sun drives the earth's water cycle. Water continually flows from the continents into the oceans, evaporates into the air, and is blown back over the continents as clouds by the prevailing winds. Every day the sun's warmth evaporates over 700 cubic kilometers of water from the earth's oceans, streams, rivers, and lakes. The water cycle is a vast purification system for the earth's fresh water supply.
c. The thermal capacity (specific heat) of water is higher than most other liquids. Without this property, the difference between winter and summer would be more extreme and weather patterns would be less stable. The great ocean currents (which transfer vast quantities of heat from the tropics to the poles), would be far less capable of moderating the temperature differences between high and low latitudes.
d. The thermal conductivity of water (its capacity to conduct heat), is four times greater than any other common liquid. This property enables cells to distribute heat evenly throughout the cell; the same holds true for marine habitats. Thermal conductivities of ice and snow are low, making snow and ice a protective insulation that is essential to the survival of many forms of life in the higher latitudes. Water would cool more rapidly and small lakes would be more likely to freeze completely, were it not for the insulating effect of the ice sheet covering. The preservation of large bodies of liquid water in the oceans provides temperature stability worldwide. This fact ensures climatic stability upon which the existence of large complex life forms depends.
So we see that through a series of interconnected and wondrously integrated thermal properties, water is used by the Creator to endow the earth with life and bestow comfort to its inhabitants. All of the effects are true maxima, for no other substance can in this respect compare with water. (4)
The high surface tension of water (highest of all common liquids--only melted selenium is higher) has many biological implications. Plants are allowed to draw water up through from soil through roots and are assisted in water’s rise to branches. This high surface tension is essential for the formation of discrete living bodies, with stable limiting membranes. Surface tension also draws water into cracks, which assists weathering and breakdown of rocks into minerals and chemicals and forming soils.
Universal solvent. The capacity to dissolve a great number of different chemical substances is necessary for any fluid if it is to function as a matrix for any kind of chemical "life" similar to our own. Water approaches far nearer to the "Alchahest" (mythical universal solvent of the alchemists) than any other substance. This property helps to distribute vital minerals through the hydrosphere, resulting in 5 billion tons of dissolved materials carried to the sea by the rivers every year. Likewise, it makes available a myriad of materials needed for the complex biochemistry of organisms, e.g. the hundreds of compounds found dissolved in human urine.
Reactive chemical. Water catalyzes almost all known reactions. But it is fortunately far less reactive than many substances (like acids) and more reactive than other substances (like the noble gases). With water, the Creator has struck a “perfect balance” between these extremes, making it ideally suited to support the complexity of life’s biochemistry.
Water’s ideal viscosity (resistance of a fluid to shearing forces) is close to the minimum for any fluid, and it must be very near to what it is for water to be a medium fit for life. In water, viscosity is high enough to provide some buffering against shearing forces and is low enough to ensure fast diffusion rates for the cell to exchange material with its environment. The fact that viscosity is not too low is important in preserving the structures of living systems from being subjected to violent movements under shearing forces if the viscosity were as low as liquid hydrogen. The delicate molecular architecture would not survive. But viscosity must not be too high: the controlled movement of large molecules and structures such as organelles would be impossible, as would processes like cell division. Viscosity also controls the performance of circulation: a capillary system will work only if the fluid being pumped through its tubes has a very low viscosity. If the viscosity of water were much greater than it is, pumping blood through blood vessels would require enormous pressure and almost any sort of circulatory system would be unworkable.
Design of capillaries. The relationship between the diameter of capillaries and the fluid viscosity of water imposes enormous design constraints on any sort of circulatory system. To achieve the same rate of blood flow and pressure through a capillary half the size would require a lowering of viscosity of 16 times (no known liquid has such low viscosity). Subsequently, the smallest capillaries are 3-5 microns, which is common to all animals. This is powerful evidence for design. In fact, our capillary system is an optimum design: A large artery must have a thicker wall than a small artery to carry the flow. However, in the case of the capillary (smallest possible based on the design constraints above), a single layer of cells has sufficient strength, which provides the rapid diffusion of material needed between blood and the tissues. Do you suppose that happened by accident? Only water could support such elegant design of circulatory systems.
Diffusion rates in water are very rapid over short distances. Oxygen will diffuse across the average body cell in approximately one hundredth of a second. This property allows cells to obtain nutrients and get rid of waste by diffusion (without the need for an internal circulatory system.) Also, the rate of diffusion is essentially the same for all the molecules required by the cell.
The density of water determines the weight of animals. If water were much more dense, the maximum size would have to be small for the animal to lift its weight off the ground (Homo sapiens would not be feasible). If water were much less dense, the aquatic life forms would sink like stones (because they are 30% carbon compounds, which are heavy). If water were a fraction denser than it is, all carbon-based aquatic life would be restricted to floating on the surface, where they would be subject to severe damage from ultraviolet radiation.
The evidence cited here and other similar facts indicate that water is uniquely and ideally constructed to serve as the fluid medium for life in not one, but in “every single one of its known physical and chemical characteristics.” (3, p. 45) According to Hoyle, “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.” (5)
Photosynthesis is the process that God uses to make food to sustain life on earth. This process uses light energy to combine carbon dioxide with water to form glucose (a sugar) and release oxygen. Chlorophyll (of green plants) is the catalyst for this complex reaction. We are reminded in Genesis 1:29, “I have given you plants bearing seed for food”. Virtually all the organic materials on earth have been produced by photosynthetic organisms. In this miraculous process, energy derived from sunlight energizes an electron in chlorophyll, beginning a complex chain reaction, which derives sufficient reducing power to convert inorganic carbon (CO2) into organic carbon (sugar). The chlorophyll obtains its electrons from water, with the aid of a "water splitting" enzyme (protein). Isn’t it fitting to refer to it as “Living Water”?
Way back in 1832, Whewell concluded that where we see a number of natural phenomena, all of which might have been different and which also seem to be “providentially arranged” for the “welfare of things,” this is very suggestive of design. (3, p.26) He was right, and the ever-growing body of scientific evidence proves it today. Truly we can say, from Him (the Designer) flows rivers of Living Water. (John 7:38)
References
1. P.C.W. Davies, 1982, The Accidental Universe, Cambridge Press.
2. Roger Penrose, 1989, The Emperor's New Mind, quoted in Denton, 1998.
3. Michael Denton, 1998, Nature’s Destiny, New York: The Free Press.
4. L. J. Henderson, 1958, The Fitness of the Environment,Boston: Beacon Press.
5. Sir Fred Hoyle, quoted in Davies, 1982.