7/27/2023 0 Comments Petrify in a sentenceWhen we looked up introductory articles about petrification, we found that often very little was said about exactly how long the process is believed to have taken. Scientific Explanation What is the belief of scientists concerning the petrification process? Do the experts actually believe it took millions of years to petrify wood naturally? If so, how do they explain the lack of decay? What were you taught about this subject in school? So let us begin by looking at exactly what science says about the process. But one important question concerns just how long that process would take. The Flood could have quickly buried forests and also have provided volcanic ash and other ingredients necessary to create petrified wood. It is especially germane to discussions on hard evidence for the world-wide flood described in Genesis. Why is this question being treated in an article in a Science and Religion column? While it would seem that petrifying wood has absolutely nothing to do with religion, that process has been linked to attacks on the Biblical account of the creation of the earth, so it seems appropriate to consider here. The purpose of this article is to examine the question of just how long it really takes nature to petrify wood. The news article began with the claim that the scientists “have found a way to achieve in days what takes Mother Nature millions of years - converting wood to mineral.” It was that statement that led to this article, because the shock of seeing that it can be done in a few days caused us to think about exactly how long the process takes to occur in nature.ĭoes it really take millions of years? It is difficult to see how the process could take that long without having the cell structure of the wood decay. The petrified blocks are also porous, so that they can be used in processes in which gases need to permeate a large surface area, such as separating industrial chemicals, filtering pollutants, and soaking up contamination. Wood is filled with many little holes, which is why wood floats in water. The reason they made the petrified wood is for commercial purposes. Then they were heated to 1400 degrees in an oxygen free atmosphere, and the petrified blocks were finished. That allowed every cell to become saturated with the rock-forming substance. Little blocks of wood less than half an inch on a side from a lumberyard were soaked in a silica solution for a few days. At the time of this writing, the scientific journal article had not yet been published, so we are relying on the news article’s description of the process, used by Yongsoon Shin at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. ![]() On January 25, 2005, an Associated Press release announced that scientists have now succeeded in petrifying wood in only a few days. What is the longest that the petrification process could take before the log decayed away? And what is the shortest time in which the process could occur in optimum conditions? This has to happen before the cells decay. During petrification of wood, the walls of every cell are replaced by a dissolved rock solution, such as a silicate or limestone. Okay, so you’ve never seen a petrified squirrel, but what about a petrified tree? Wood lasts a lot longer than flesh without rotting, but we have likely all seen a fallen log rotting on the ground in the forest. One immediately responded “millions of years.” When we pointed out the perishable nature of eyes, she changed her answer to “instantly.” We are convinced that the correct answer lies between these two extremes, but it is difficult to see how the process could have taken more than a few years, even if the corpse were buried quickly, which could greatly slow down the decay process. We asked this question to several friends as we prepared this article. ![]() How long do you think it would have taken for the entire petrification process to happen? What is the longest period of time it might have taken before those delicate parts would have decayed? Suppose when you examined it, you found that all of its delicate parts such as eyes, lips and fur had been turned to stone, so that it looked exactly like a stone statue of a squirrel. Suppose you were walking through Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, and among all of the petrified trees, you found a petrified squirrel. ![]() The recent scientific discovery of how to petrify wood in a few days has again raised the question of just how long the process takes in nature.
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