When aeronautical engineers and physicists look to build better engines for our high flying jet fleets that ply the skies of the world, they have only to look down on the ground to just one of God's designs. When God created the amazing bombardier beetle, He provided major problems for modern evolutionary scientists, but He has also given them the opportunity to solve a problem in modern jet engines. The problem that they are attempting to solve is one that occurs at high altitude when gas turbine engines cut out and need to be reignited. This is a very difficult problem when the outside air is minus 50 degrees Centigrade. Getting those engines working again is critical to safety, and these engineers and physicists think that by studying the bombardier beetle's unique natural combustion technique, they can improve our jets' engines.

The bombardier beetle's jet-based defense mechanism that God has given it to protect itself from ants, spiders, frogs, and other predators may be a good model to follow for building future jet engines. The mechanics of the high-pressure spray system called a "pulse combustion system" and the nozzle ejection mechanism is one that amazes engineers and physicists.

In a three-year project at the University of Leeds in England, the project entitled "Learning from Controlled Explosion in Nature - Modeling the Catalytic Explosion Device of the Bombardier Beetle," engineers will seek to understand how this beetle produces the pulse combustion spray. Called "Biomimetics," it looks at the creations of the Almighty for ideas that can be used for man's machines. According to the lead researcher, Professor Andy McIntosh, "Copying such natural mechanisms is part of the growing field of biomimetics where scientists learn much from intricate design features already in nature. Understanding this beetle better could lead to significant advances in combustion research." How did these "intricate design features" get into "nature"?

The research will focus on the beetle's heart-shaped combustion chamber, which is less than one millimeter long, as well as the shape of the nozzle which can swivel in any direction. This combustion chamber allows the beetle to produce multiple explosions (about 300 per second) that cause the larger explosion with as small amount of fuels as possible. This allows the beetle to conserve fuels that may be needed for a more determined predator.

The fuels for these explosions, found by research done at Cornell University, were hydrogen peroxidase and hydroquinone which, when reacted together, produce a stream of benzoquinone and steam in a jet at around one hundred degrees Centigrade. This is a powerful deterrent to any predator looking for supper!

So, for the next three years, some of the best minds in the world will examine the creation of the Supreme Designer to see if they can understand how this mechanism works. Yet, they will probably then turn around and say that it was just a lucky series of accidents that produced such mechanisms by organic evolution over millions of millions of years.

How much easier to look at this and just give God the glory for the evidence He left for us "...by the things that are made ..." Romans 1:20. Rt. 1 Box 116A, Belington, WV 26250. aedeverson@yahoo.com

Return to West Virginia Christian