Here's an interesting bit that my son found on netscape:
Science: Bible's Red Sea Miracle Is Real?
This is what the book of Exodus says about the parting of the Red Sea:
"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground: the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left."
Two mathematicians--one from St. Petersburg, Russia and the other from Hamburg, Germany--have concluded that the biblical story of Moses parting the rushing waters of the Red Sea so 600,000 Jews could escape slavery by the Egyptians was possible scientifically and in concurrence with the laws of physics.
Russia's St. Petersburg Times reports that by using a system of differential equations, Naum Volzinger, a senior researcher at St. Petersburg's Institute of Oceanology, and his Hamburg-based colleague Alexei Androsov established the conditions under which the waves might have parted.
Here's the mathematics and science behind the miracle: There is a reef in the Red Sea exactly at the documented spot where the Jews escaped Egypt. In ancient times, the reef was unbroken and much closer to the surface of the sea than it is today. The Bible story cites the "strong east wind that blew all that night." So mathematically, the two scientists wrote an equation that considered wind speed, the strength of the storm that would leave the reef high and dry at low tide, how long before the waters returned, and how quickly they returned.
Volzinger, who specializes in ocean phenomena, flooding, and tidal waves, calculated that the wind had to have blown at a sustained speed of 67 miles per hour to make the reef. Once the reef formed, he told the St. Petersburg Times, "It would take the Jews--there were 600,000 of them--four hours to cross the 4.2-mile reef that runs from one coast to another. Then, in half an hour, the waters would come back." The story says that when the Egyptian army followed them into the Red Sea, they drowned. "I am convinced that God rules the Earth through the laws of physics," he said.
The study, which took almost six months to complete is titled "Modeling of the Hydrodynamic Situation During the Exodus" and has been published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Mark Grubarg, the head of the Jewish community in St. Petersburg, said the spiritual value of this miracle is immense for Jews.
Science: Bible's Red Sea Miracle Is Real?
This is what the book of Exodus says about the parting of the Red Sea:
"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground: the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left."
Two mathematicians--one from St. Petersburg, Russia and the other from Hamburg, Germany--have concluded that the biblical story of Moses parting the rushing waters of the Red Sea so 600,000 Jews could escape slavery by the Egyptians was possible scientifically and in concurrence with the laws of physics.
Russia's St. Petersburg Times reports that by using a system of differential equations, Naum Volzinger, a senior researcher at St. Petersburg's Institute of Oceanology, and his Hamburg-based colleague Alexei Androsov established the conditions under which the waves might have parted.
Here's the mathematics and science behind the miracle: There is a reef in the Red Sea exactly at the documented spot where the Jews escaped Egypt. In ancient times, the reef was unbroken and much closer to the surface of the sea than it is today. The Bible story cites the "strong east wind that blew all that night." So mathematically, the two scientists wrote an equation that considered wind speed, the strength of the storm that would leave the reef high and dry at low tide, how long before the waters returned, and how quickly they returned.
Volzinger, who specializes in ocean phenomena, flooding, and tidal waves, calculated that the wind had to have blown at a sustained speed of 67 miles per hour to make the reef. Once the reef formed, he told the St. Petersburg Times, "It would take the Jews--there were 600,000 of them--four hours to cross the 4.2-mile reef that runs from one coast to another. Then, in half an hour, the waters would come back." The story says that when the Egyptian army followed them into the Red Sea, they drowned. "I am convinced that God rules the Earth through the laws of physics," he said.
The study, which took almost six months to complete is titled "Modeling of the Hydrodynamic Situation During the Exodus" and has been published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Mark Grubarg, the head of the Jewish community in St. Petersburg, said the spiritual value of this miracle is immense for Jews.
