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Originally Posted by aurorae
Way back in the previous thread I tried to get you to define a prediction that the expanding planet theory makes so we can test it. Do you have one?
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I think
ExpErdMann admitted in a previous thread that the preponderance of modern data does not support expansion in the current time, so any tests would have to be from existing historical data.
As to
ExpErdMann's five points in the OP, most of them have been dealt with. For instance, point 1) says "Such perfect matching of continents is unlikely to have arisen by chance." There is absolutely no way of determining that likelyhood, and I've mentioned before that a lot of math models would place the probability quite high. Also, you'd have to ignore an awful lot of geophysical data to say, as in point 2), "There is no 'smoking gun' of subduction."
In point 3), he said " one would expect to find here and there relics of older sea floors billions of years old. These have not been found." Someone mentioned in the previous thread that these
have been found, so that point is easily dismissed. Point 4), that "Fossil evidence supports this general trend" of water receding over all of geologic time, is just not true. The water has ebbed and flowed many times. Point 5) surprises me, as I don't remember hearing it before: "The expanding earth theory explains why the continents are very even in thickness. Plate tectonics has no explanation for this." Probably the reason plate tectonics doesn't explain it is because it isn't true. The continental plates vary considerably in thickness.
The Expanding Earth hypothesis is fun, the fit is kinda neat, but the argument is weak. That's why J. Tuzo Wilson (who
ExpErdMann points out was an early proponent) abandoned it. Modern evidence is lacking, so the expansion would have to include periods of stopping, or even shrinking. Plate tectonics may not be a perfected theory, but to say that "Plate tectonics has no explanation for this," is disingenuous.
The two theories are not in competition (one's going to be a "winner" and the other a "loser"). Geophysics is the one realm of science where unselfish cooperation still regularly takes place, not withstanding a few instances of megalomania. It's still better than most.