BOMBS AWAY
The bombardier beetle gets such a hard time from Young Earth Creationists. Apparantly the poor fellow would be on the brink of self-destruction if it wasn't for a supernatural agent creating this beetle complete from day one (or should that be Day Four?). The bombardier beetle uses an "explosive" jet of rather foul liquid expelled from a chamber on its backside as a defense against predators. What has this to with Hovind? Wait, I'm getting to that.
The most prominent Young Earth Creationist to invoke the bombardier beetle was Dr Duane Gish. In what can only be described as professional incompetence for a person with a degree in chemistry, Gish falsely claimed our humble beetle would explode if the major ingredients of its defense fluid were mixed together. Gish also falsely claimed that a chemical inhibitor would be needed to suppress this instantaneous explosion. What has this to do with Hovind? Hold your horses.
Unfortunately for Gish (and other Young Earth Creationists) the bombardier beetle's chemistry does not work the way described. The main ingredients of the beetles defense are hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide. Mix this two together and you will get only brown liquid. To make these chemicals "work" a catalyst is added to accelerate the reaction. In other words, the beetle isn't at any risk of blowing himself up.
Now we come to Kent Hovind. In a video called Leviathan, available for purchase, Hovind makes the following claims about our intrepid bombardier beetle. Hovind begins by quoting a valid science source which says;
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"The explosive energy comes from mixing of two separate fluids (hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide) with oxidative enzymes" (36:10) |
Despite having a complete set of facts, Hovind then adds in nonsense from Young Earth Creation sources;
| "If those two [chemicals] get together they explode" (36:55) |
This is false. In fact, it is because they don't explode that the oxidative enzymes (catalysts) need to be added.
| ".... he has another chemical he mixes in there. It is called the inhibitor". (37:10) |
False, there is no inhibitor. This was originally falsely claimed by Duane Gish as mentioned above. See, there was a point to my meanderings.
| ".... he has a fourth chemical he sprays in there at the last possible second. The fourth chemical neutralizes the third chemical and allows the first two to explode." (37:20) |
There is no "fourth chemical" because the erroneous "third chemical" inhibitor doesn't exist. The real final stage is the addition of the catalyst which makes our original two chemicals react with more punch.
Hovind then goes on - after declaring the bombardier beetle "breaths fire" - to claim there were really fire breathing dinosaurs and they lived with modern humans. But that is a debate for another time.
Carl Marychurch 2005
[1] Hovind, Kent, Leviathan: Fire-Breathing Dragon, Creation Science Evangelism, Florida.