Re: [asa] Radioactive decay of U-238 is imminent (just wait a few billion years)

Bernie,

You should (1) stop being contentious and try to understand the point being made; (2) brush up on your clear lack of familiarity with radioactive decay.

It is simply NOT true to say of any atom of U-238 that it's decay to Th-234 "is going to be an extremely long wait".

You actually CAN'T say ANYTHING about when the decay of any particular U-238 atom is going to occur - which is why "imminent" - "likely to happen at any time" is the CORRECT word (check your own citations).

Blessings,
Murray

Dehler, Bernie wrote:
> Hi Pastor Murray- you said:
>
>
>
> " …any atom of Uranium-238 the decay to Thorium-234 is "imminent"”
>
> Isn't that */_just as wrong_/* as if you said (which is also true):
>
>
>
> " …any atom of Uranium-238 the decay to Thorium-234 is going to be an
> extremely long wait"
>
>
>
> ...Bernie
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
> Behalf Of Murray Hogg
> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:37 AM
> To: ASA
> Subject: Re: [asa] Radioactive decay of U-238 is imminent (just wait a
> few billion years)
>
>
>
> Bernie,
>
>
>
> Two remarks;
>
>
>
> 1) Of COURSE you're not sure about the example but that's because it
> conflicts with your inadequate grasp of how the term "imminent" is being
> used in this context.
>
>
>
> What matters is that the example elucidates the usage. And arguing that
> the example doesn't work because the usage is wrong is, as we say in
> Australia, "arse end about".
>
>
>
> What you should be asking is NOT "what does the word mean?" BUT "what
> does Burgy mean?". Unless, of course, your primary concern is to correct
> his linguistic usage rather than to understand his point.
>
>
>
> 2) I chose to make reference to a particular atom rather than multiple
> atoms precisely to avoid the confusion of "partial" decay. So yeah,
> Jesus doesn't return in parts, but neither does any particular atom so
> decay.
>
>
>
> Bottom line: instead of critiquing the example because it doesn't match
> YOUR idea of what is meant by "imminent" - perhaps you might reflect
> upon it in order to come to some understanding of what OTHER people mean
> by the term.
>
>
>
> Blessings,
>
> Murray
>
>
>
> Dehler, Bernie wrote:
>
>> Hi Pastor Murray-
>
>>
>
>> That is an interesting example.
>
>>
>
>> I'm not sure it is correct to say that any particular atom would decay
> imminently, because we know some will decay soon (imminently), some much
> later (not imminent at all), and we are unable to predict when it will
> happen for a particular atom.
>
>>
>
>> In the case of the return of Jesus- it is all supposed to be imminent-
> not parts now and other parts millions of years later.
>
>>
>
>> ...Bernie
>
>>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>
>> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]
> On Behalf Of Murray Hogg
>
>> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 9:08 AM
>
>> To: ASA
>
>> Subject: [asa] Radioactive decay of U-238 is imminent (just wait a few
> billion years)
>
>>
>
>> John Burgeson (ASA member) wrote:
>
>> > I take "imminent" to mean "at any time." No indication in the word as
>
>> > to whether that time is 10 nanoseconds from now -- or 4 million years.
>
>>
>
>> Hi Burgy,
>
>>
>
>> It strikes me that a scientific example illustrating the notion of
> immanence would be radioactive decay.
>
>>
>
>> To take the most extreme instance, there is nothing inconsistent with
> the observation that for any atom of Uranium-238 the decay to
> Thorium-234 is "imminent" AND with the belief that with a half-life of
> about 4.5 billion years it's probably not worth sitting around waiting
> for it to happen!
>
>>
>
>> Blessings,
>
>> Murray
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
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Received on Thu Jan 22 14:52:49 2009