August wrote: IMO, there is no way that the ark would have floated using those assumptions and calculating the buoyancy, even if it was such a large vessel. The total weight is between 3 and 4 times more than the displaced water volume.
If all the parameters were well known, then a factor of 3 or 4 would be conclusive that the ark could not have floated. But given the uncertainty in all the estimates (length of cubit, number of animals, average weight, etc.), a factor of only 3 or 4 is not all that convincing by itself.
The buoyancy argument is a good one in the sense that not much specialized knowledge is needed to comprehend it. Other arguments, such as development of the present-day different types of animals from the ark animals, even the genetic bottleneck problems, or the geologic evidence concerning the flood, require more background scientific knowledge to evaluate.
Here is some information about large wooden ships. In the gopher wood mystery (
http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... +ark#22735), the proposition that cast iron (not steel) was involved in ark construction is presented. From Jbuza earlier "The arks total capacity was 569 stock cars" and the weblink "Noah's Ark was said to have been the largest sea-going vessel ever built until the late nineteenth century when giant metal ships were first constructed".
Here, from the Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks web site, is some information on big, mostly wooden ships:
http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/expl ... r_serv.cfm
Between 1870 and 1903, well after most major shipyards had made the inevitable transition to steel hulls, Captain James Davidson's yard in West Bay City, Michigan, stretched the limits of wooden boat technology, eventually making some of largest wooden ships on the Great Lakes and some of the longest ever intended for deepwater navigation (see, for example, the Pretoria ).
Davidson's long preference for wooden hulls was due less to a reverence for tradition than to simple economics. Davidson's competitors faced huge capital outlays as they retooled their yards and retrained their workforces to build steel ships. Most, in fact, did not survive the transition. Davidson, however, spared himself the jolts of converting to steel. He exploited the supply of prime oak in the nearby Saginaw River area, stuck with his well-trained work force and well-equipped facilities, and pushed the art of wooden boat building to its limits. For many years, the strategy paid off. Davidson's inexpensive but efficient wooden boats continued earning him large profits until the Great Depression.
The Frank O'Connor represents one of Davidson's many technological advances. Originally called the City of Naples, it was built in 1892 with two sister ships, the City of Venice and the City of Genoa. These three ships were the first of Davidson's 300-foot wooden bulk carriers. To reach these lengths, Davidson devised innovative ways to strengthen the hulls with iron and steel strapping. The City of Naples measured 301 feet in length, 42 feet 6 inches in breadth, and 21 feet 3 inches in depth of hold. It had a gross tonnage of 2,109 and, as originally configured, could carry nearly 2,600 tons of coal or 100,000 bushels of grain.
http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/expl ... a_serv.cfm
The schooner-barge Pretoria was one of the most colossal wooden vessels to sail the Great Lakes. It was 338 feet long - longer than a football field. It had a 44-foot beam and a depth of 23 feet. It reportedly had 11 hatches in its deck for loading cargo into the hold - each hatch was 7 feet by 26 feet. With a gross tonnage of 2,791 tons and a net tonnage of 2,715 tons, it could carry as much freight as 50 railroad cars.
The Pretoria was built at the turn of the century in West Bay City, Michigan, by James Davidson, a ship-building marvel in his day. Davidson was well-known for building high-quality wooden vessels that could carry heavy cargoes. He also was regarded as one of the final holdouts in the wooden shipbuilding industry.
The Saginaw (Michigan) Courier-Herald described the Pretoria's July 26, 1900, launching:
The schooner Pretoria, the largest wooden boat ever built, was launched at Davidson's shipyard this afternoon, in the presence of a vast multitude.
The Pretoria will carry 5,000 tons of iron ore, 175,000 bushels of wheat, or 300,000 bushels of oats. ...
he is very strong and substantially constructed in every way, has steel keelson plates, steel chords , steel arches , and is also diagonally strapped with steel.
[This also adds to August's point - the earlier ark calculation was based on volume, but it is clear from the differing capacities for wheat and oats that weight is crucial.]