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Over the past 25 years, young earth creationists have claimed that the only way pterodactyls could fly was if there was a vapor canopy. Jody Dillow, in his book The Waters Above, discussed this issue. My copy of that book is in Houston so I can't get quotes from that source, but on the web there are several young-earth sites who make the claim:
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Consider another illustration. In West Texas, there has been found a fossilized pterodactyl, a flying reptile, with a wingspan of fifty-two feet. There is no way this flying dinosaur (as it has been called) could have flown with the current atmospheric pressure. It would have been utterly impossible. But, with an atmospheric pressure of approximately thirty-two pounds per square inch, this flying pterodactyl would have had a field day. Scientific investigation mandates a time in the past when life forms required greater atmospheric pressure and filtration of the ultraviolet radiation, such as the Biblical record very clearly presents. In all the annals of investigative research, only the Biblical record gives the required mechanism to make this possible. Just a canopy [of] water vapor would not satisfy a complete and needed explanation. Water vapor collapses into vortices, eddies, and spiral circles of energy; but, with a world energized by a firmament of compressed hydrogen held in place by a layer of crystalline water which would keep the temperature at a consistent level, the necessary requirements would be the result.[/box]
http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/gen1.htm
see also http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45334&st=275
Well, last week in New Scientist was the report on some new work which showed how pterodactyls flew.
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PTEROSAURS, the reptiles that ruled the air 200 million years ago, had a neat aerodynamic trick. Like aircraft today, they used wing flaps to generate extra lift.
The discovery may help clear up an enduring mystery of pterosaur flight. Calculations based on what was known from fossils failed to explain how pterosaurs could have generated enough lift to become airborne from a standing start, or fly slowly enough to land without breaking their bones. Yet fossilised pterosaur tracks show that they could do both these things.
The riddle has been solved by Matthew Wilkinson and colleagues in the animal flight group at the University of Cambridge, who have studied well-preserved fossils from the Santana formation in Brazil. Earlier calculations were wrong, say the researchers, because they did not take into account an articulated bone called the pteroid, which Wilkinson says supported a flap of skin at the leading edge of the wing that could be angled downwards to increase lift (see Diagram).
"Even the largest pterosaurs may have been able to take off simply by spreading their wings while facing into a moderate breeze," Wilkinson says. Similarly, the enhanced lift would have cut the creatures' minimum flying speed by about 15 per cent, allowing them to land smoothly (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOl: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3278).
Paul Marks. Where the Flying Lizards Got Their Lift, New Scientist, Oct. 15, 2005, p. 12
[/box]
Once again the creationists are wrong
[box]
Consider another illustration. In West Texas, there has been found a fossilized pterodactyl, a flying reptile, with a wingspan of fifty-two feet. There is no way this flying dinosaur (as it has been called) could have flown with the current atmospheric pressure. It would have been utterly impossible. But, with an atmospheric pressure of approximately thirty-two pounds per square inch, this flying pterodactyl would have had a field day. Scientific investigation mandates a time in the past when life forms required greater atmospheric pressure and filtration of the ultraviolet radiation, such as the Biblical record very clearly presents. In all the annals of investigative research, only the Biblical record gives the required mechanism to make this possible. Just a canopy [of] water vapor would not satisfy a complete and needed explanation. Water vapor collapses into vortices, eddies, and spiral circles of energy; but, with a world energized by a firmament of compressed hydrogen held in place by a layer of crystalline water which would keep the temperature at a consistent level, the necessary requirements would be the result.[/box]
http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/gen1.htm
see also http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45334&st=275
Well, last week in New Scientist was the report on some new work which showed how pterodactyls flew.
[box]
PTEROSAURS, the reptiles that ruled the air 200 million years ago, had a neat aerodynamic trick. Like aircraft today, they used wing flaps to generate extra lift.
The discovery may help clear up an enduring mystery of pterosaur flight. Calculations based on what was known from fossils failed to explain how pterosaurs could have generated enough lift to become airborne from a standing start, or fly slowly enough to land without breaking their bones. Yet fossilised pterosaur tracks show that they could do both these things.
The riddle has been solved by Matthew Wilkinson and colleagues in the animal flight group at the University of Cambridge, who have studied well-preserved fossils from the Santana formation in Brazil. Earlier calculations were wrong, say the researchers, because they did not take into account an articulated bone called the pteroid, which Wilkinson says supported a flap of skin at the leading edge of the wing that could be angled downwards to increase lift (see Diagram).
"Even the largest pterosaurs may have been able to take off simply by spreading their wings while facing into a moderate breeze," Wilkinson says. Similarly, the enhanced lift would have cut the creatures' minimum flying speed by about 15 per cent, allowing them to land smoothly (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOl: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3278).
Paul Marks. Where the Flying Lizards Got Their Lift, New Scientist, Oct. 15, 2005, p. 12
[/box]
Once again the creationists are wrong
