Wednesday, February 18, 2015

What Are The Odds?

 

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Absolute Zero is −459.67° Fahrenheit, and the temperature at the surface of the Sun is about 9,900° – the Sun’s core is a whole lot hotter, about 27 million degrees. 

Scientists will tell you that out of that huge  temperature range only about 70 degrees or so – roughly, from freezing to about 100° – will sustain human life.  Even that is overly optimistic; a naked human can succumb to hypothermia at temperatures above 60° and people can (and sometimes do) suffer heat stoke at temperatures below 90°!

There are hotter stars in the universe, but – just using the figures quoted above – the odds are 99.999741% against finding a temperature range in which humans can exist. 

And - That only considers temperature, and does not take into account other requirements like water. a food source or an atmosphere containing an acceptable percentage of oxygen. Air on Earth is typically about 21% oxygen - OSHA considers anything under 19.5% or over 22% unsafe.

So, is the fact that we exist at all a miracle?  Is all human life a sacred gift from God, or is it just a strange anomaly, a minor mistake in an otherwise orderly universe? 

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