From my 50 grams of water example, let's assume that water is originally at zero degrees Celsius (freezing point of water) and the temperature raises to ten degrees Celsius, just enough to have it completely melt.
That would take 2090 J (or 2.090 kJ) of energy to raise the temperature of the water from zero to ten degrees Celsius, by my calculations.
q = ncT
Now lets do a rough estimate. Of course there are more factors at play. A quick Google search of "total volume of water on Earth" gives 1.35 x 10^18 kilolitres
at this source. Not the most reputable, I know. But this is a rough estimate, not a scientific study.
1.35 x 10^18 kL = 1.35 x 10^24 mL. The density of water is 1g/mL.
That means 1.35 x 10^24 grams of water.
Using water's heat capacity (4.18 J/C.g) and the equation q = mcT, we find that it takes a whopping 5.643 x 10^25 J of energy to turn all of Earth's water into liquid from zero degrees Celsius to ten degrees Celsius.
But obviously all of Earth's water is not already ice. Most is liquid. Another quick Google search shows the volume of ice on Earth is 33x10^6 cubic kilometres, according
to this source. It's more reputable.
33x10^6 km^3 of ice = 3.3x10^22 grams of ice. Using the same equation, we get...1.3794 x 10^24 J of energy to convert all the world's ice into liquid water at ten degrees Celsius (assuming all the ice is at temperature zero degrees Celsius. In reality, all the ice isn't at zero degrees Celsius and this number will be MUCH larger).
The total
solar energy absorbed by
Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3850000 exajoules (EJ) [according to Wikipedia].
This is 3.85 x 10^6 EJ/year. Noah's flood
occured over one solar year, apparently. This means that the total energy the Earth received from the Sun during Noah's flood was 365 days, making that still 3.85 x 10^6 EJ during the flood.
As a percentage, it would have taken up a total of
35.8% of the total solar energy the Earth receives in one year. This is for the whole duration of the flood. This is assuming the flood happened gradually over the year as the water levels rose.
I assume the story means the flooding actually took place over a shorter period of time and the water level remained static for awhile. This would mean an even greater percentage of the solar energy received by Earth on that time interval. ~36% is an INSANE amount of energy. Sorry, Creationists. The story is BS. 36% is a lower-limit estimate. The number is way higher because all ice is well below zero degrees Celsius. The amount of energy it would take would be even greater. So an educated guess would put the number closer to 50%.
