Better Living Through Graphene?

Today's post is going to take a different approach. Instead of showing flaws in evolutionary reasoning and presenting examples in nature that affirm special creation, we can see how our Creator has given us many things we need to improve life on this busy blue marble. To quote Ian Juby, "Your brain was intelligently designed, and God wants you to use it."

Credit: jk1991 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In Genesis, God gave Adam and Eve the dominion mandate to fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion (Gen. 1:28). Seems to me that the dominion part includes making good use of what he's given us. By the way, subdue does not mean pillage. We are stewards of God's creation, and accountable to him for how we take care of it, you savvy?

We know and love water, for example. Some folks realized that if it's good for helping us cool down, it can be good for other things. Hey, water cut a lot of rock during and after the Genesis Flood, so how about using it in mining? Wow, water used to cut rock in mining, let's use high-pressure directed water jets for cutting! Yes, some folks got clever with it. No need for me to get into sand, what with making glass, doing abrasive blasting to remove contaminants, and so on, right? 

As technology progresses, people get more and better ideas. There's a whole heap of carbon on Earth, and is the basis of all known life forms. (I disremember where, but some science fiction story had aliens using the expression "carbon-based lifeforms" in a derogatory manner. No kidding? How's that silicon silliness working out for ya, Xenu?) Aside from playing nicely with many other elements in organisms, carbon can be manipulated into making useful products. Graphite is a form of carbon, and is the "lead" in pencils. How about shaving it down — way down — until it's an atom thick? Now you're talking about graphene. This stuff is very strong. We read a bit about water, add in graphene, and there is promising research to filter out salt water so people can have an abundant supply of safe drinking water! Give glory to God for giving us resources and for making logic, mathematics, chemistry, and science itself possible! 

Carbon, the sixth element on the periodic table, is considered “King of the Elements.” It appears in three major forms in nature. One of these forms, diamond, is transparent and the hardest known material while another form, graphite, is black and very soft. Carbon is essential to life.

In 2002 researchers at the University of Manchester isolated graphene, an ultra-thin sheet of carbon atoms, by peeling off layers of graphite with tape until they had a layer just one atom thick. Now the strongest material known to man, this “wonder material” is pliable, strong, and conductive.

Professor Stuart Burgess, a professor and gifted design engineer at the University of Bristol in the UK (and a biblical creationist), says this of carbon and graphene,

No, to find out what he said and to read the rest of the article, click on "Graphene: Seeing God’s Handiwork and Care in Chemistry".
  



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