According to “Earth Science”    

Conventional Knowledge

P. 3.  “1899.  The Rosetta stone is discovered

in Egypt.  It enables scholars to decipher

Egyptian hieroglyphics.”

1799--when Napoleon Bonaparte’s army

 occupied Egypt.

P. 3.  “1970.  The United States holds its first

Earth Day on April 22.  More than 20 million

people participate in peaceful demonstrations

to show their concern for the environment.”

20 million people would have been 10%

 of the population of the United States.

 No demonstrations involving even 1%

 of the population of the United States

 have been conducted on one day.

P. 8.  “Meteors are the flashes of light seen when

objects fall from space into our atmosphere.”

Meteors are the objects.

P. 9.  “Astronomers estimate that there are 100

billion billion stars in the sky.”, and

P. 9.  “Astronomers estimate that there are

more than 100 billion billion stars in the sky!”

No close estimate of the number of stars

 has been established.  It’s not likely to be

 a round number such as 100 billion billion.

 It’s many times higher.

P. 12. “It is about 12 m long and appears to

weigh about 4 tons.  It is an allosaur, the most

common meat-eating predator of the time.”

For a 4 ton (8,000 pound) animal to be

the most common meat-eating predator,

there would need to be a very high

number of other types of animals

 available all the time and slower-

moving than this ponderous reptile.

P. 16.  “…the eight bones found in New

Mexico were indeed from a newly discovered

dinosaur species that was probably 45 m long

and weighed at least 100 tons.”

100 tons (200,000 pounds) which is

distributed over 45 m (about 140 feet)

is about 1400 pounds per foot of length.

With four legs, this means that

each leg would need to support 50,000

pounds in a standing position, and

 66,667 pounds in a walking stance with

one foot raised.

P. 18. “As temperature increased, the volume

of the oceans would expand, causing sea level

to rise.”

Water is virtually incompressible or

expandable with temperature in most

ranges of liquid state.

P. 18.  “In states such as Florida and New

York, millions of people live in cities near the

coast at an elevation of 8 m above sea level.

If sea level rose only 8 m, these cities would

be underwater!” 

The likelihood of a change in sea level

of 0.08 meter (about 3 inches) is remote,

let alone 8 meters (about 25 feet).

P. 20. “If you have been in a greenhouse, you

know that it is usually warmer inside than  

outside.  This is because sunlight not only

heats the greenhouse directly after passing

through the glass, but also reflects off the

Earth’s surface, producing heat that is

trapped inside the greenhouse.”

Sunlight that is reflected off anything,

including “the Earth’s surface”, is not

available to heat that thing.  Sunlight

that reflects off the floor of a greenhouse

generally radiates out the glass—that’s

why one can see the floor through the

glass from outside the greenhouse.  A

greenhouse is warmer inside than outside

because the warmed air is not allowed

to vent outside and glass is a very

good heat insulator.

P. 25.  “Normal body temperature 98.6°F.”

Recent studies have placed the normal

temperature for measurements under

the tongue at 99+°F.  There is actually a range

of temperatures during a 24-hour period,

with no single normal body temperature.

P. 29.  “According to Boyle’s law, for

example, if you increase the pressure outside

a balloon, the balloon will get smaller.  This

law is expressed as the following formula:

          P₁ X V₁  =  P₂ X V₂  ”

Boyle says this is only true if the temperature 

remains constant.

P. 30.  “As you are reading this, you are

moving around at 1,670 km/h.  Sound

impossible?  It’s true.  That’s how fast the

Earth rotates on its axis.”

Rotation of the Earth on its axis is

measured in degrees or radians per

time, not distance per time.  The only

places on the Earth that are moving at

1,670 km/h (about 1050 miles per hour)

are on the equator.  Every place else is

slower—all the way to zero at the poles.

P. 34.  “The Greeks thought that the sphere was

the most perfect form and that the Earth therefore

had to be a sphere.”

These unidentified Greeks were not

applying the scientific method.

P. 36.  “Self-Check.  Does the Earth rotate

around the geographic poles or the magnetic

poles?.”  P. 564.  “Self-Check Answers. …

The Earth rotates around the geographic poles.”

The geographic poles are points, not lines.

The Earth rotates around its axis. (See the

quote for p. 30.)

P. 41.  “Actually, Africa is 15 times larger

than Greenland.”

Actually, Africa (11,700,000 sq. mi.)

is 14 times the size of Greenland

(840,000 sq. mi.).

P. 43.  “Satellites can detect objects the size of

a baseball stadium.”

Cameras on satellites can discern objects

a couple inches across.

P. 56. “1680.  The dodo, a flightless bird, is

driven into extinction by hunters.  It is the first

extinction of a species in recorded history.”

The first extinction of a species in recorded

history?

P. 57. “1848.  Gold is discovered in California.”

In 1842 gold was discovered and mined in

Placerita Canyon north of Los Angeles.

Gold was later discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s

Mill east of Sacramento.

P. 58.  “Gems are valuable not because of the

elements they contain but because of how

their atoms are arranged.”

Gems are valuable because some people are

willing to pay comparatively high prices for

them.

P. 60.  “A mineral is inorganic, meaning it

isn’t made of living things.”

The term “inorganic” in chemistry refers to

molecules that do not contain carbon, with

a few exceptions.  Most living things have

many minerals in them, including both organic

and inorganic.

P. 63. “Halides are compounds that form when

atoms of the elements fluorine (F), chlorine

 (Cl), iodine (I), or bromine (Br) combine with

sodium (Na), potassium (K), or calcium (Ca).

Halite (NaCl) is better known as rock salt.

 …Halide minerals are often used to make

fertilizer.”

In soils halides, such as NaCl (salt), generally

inhibit growth in plants.

P. 66.  “The specific gravity of gold, for

example, is 19.  This means that gold has a

density of 19 g/cm³.  In other words, there is

19 times more matter in 1 cm³ of gold than

in 1 cm³ of water.”

It’s 19 times, not 19 times more. Actually

it’s 19.3 times.

P. 68.  “Almost all known minerals can be

found in the Earth’s crust.”

And the rest?  What are they?

P. 69.  “It [water] then reacts with minerals in

the walls of the cracks [deep in the Earth’s crust]

to form a hot liquid solution.  Dissolved metals

and other elements crystallize out of the hot

fluid to form new minerals.  Gold, copper,

sulfur, pyrite and galena form in such hot-water

environments.”

Gold, copper, sulfur, pyrite and galena do

not dissolve in water.

P. 72.  “The karat is a measure of the purity of

gold. … If you have a gold nugget that is 16

karats, then 16 parts out of 24 are pure gold—

the other 8 parts are composed of other

elements.”

The “karat” system is used only with

manufactured gold items and involves

placing a “K” or “Karat” mark on the item.

Gold nuggets and ore don’t use the

 “karat” system.

P. 83.  “Magma is usually less dense than

the surrounding rock, so it tends to rise to

higher levels of the Earth’s crust.”

If magma is usually less dense than the

surrounding rock in the Earth’s crust,

shouldn’t the entire Earth’s crust be

continually falling into the less dense

 magma below?

P. 87.  “Composition.  Sometimes fluids like

water and carbon dioxide enter a rock that is

close to its melting point.  When these fluids

combine with the rock, they can lower the

melting point of the rock enough for it to melt

and form magma.”

Carbon dioxide does not have a liquid

state.  The temperatures of nearly

molten rock are vastly higher than

liquid water, and any water that

approached such rock would vaporize

before reaching the rock’s surface.

P. 97.  “When conditions within the Earth’s

crust change because of collisions between

continents or the intrusion of magma, the

temperature and pressure of the existing

rock change.”

Continents don’t collide. Even tectonic

plates don’t collide.  A collision

implies an appreciable relative velocity

between the two colliding objects.

.

P. 490.  “Hold your compass flat in your hand.

Turn the compass until the N is pointing straight

in front of you.  (The needle in your compass

will always point north.)  Turn your body until

the needle lines up with the N on your compass.

You are now facing north.”

Magnetic north, not true north.  A correction

for magnetic declination needs to be made at

each point on the Earth’s surface for the

difference between magnetic north and

true north, oftentimes many degrees.  That's

what it says on p. 36!