WORLD HISTORY
And
RADIOMETRIC DATING
PART LII
Good day all you people out there! I was just collecting eggs from the chicken coup with a friend and they asked if I knew how old there were. It is still could enough here that I don’t have to collect them every day. The oldest eggs in this batch were three days old. I know that because that was the last time I collected them.
But what about the age of the earth? Doesn’t radiometric dating prove that the earth is old? Isn’t that why the ancient Egyptian and Chinese artifacts and dwellings fall in with the traditional timelines and not the new chronologies we were just studying? Well, I think you will be surprised at some of the findings…
First of all lets define radiometric dating. According to the science dictionary (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/radiometric+dating?s=t), radiometric dating is defined as “radiometric dating (rā'dē-ō-mět'rĭk)- A method for determining the age of an object based on the concentration of a particular radioactive isotope contained within it. For inorganic materials, such as rocks containing the radioactive isotope rubidium, the amount of the isotope in the object is compared to the amount of the isotope's decay products (in this case strontium). The object's approximate age can then be figured out using the known rate of decay of the isotope. For organic materials, the comparison is between the current ratio of a radioactive isotope to a stable isotope of the same element and the known ratio of the two isotopes in living organisms. Radiocarbon dating is one such type of radiometric dating.” (bold emphasis mine).
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| STARTING AMOUNTS OF C-14 ARE ALWAYS UNKNOWN |
Ok to translate, what they are saying is that decay rates can be compared and therefore the rate of decay can be determined. But as you can see, I bolded some of the sentences because each part of the sentence that is bolded is an assumption. Let me explain...
Radiocarbon dating is used for organic materials like plants, animals, mankind etc. Radiocarbon dating is also called C14 or carbon dating. The C stands for carbon. And there are two basic forms of carbon; one that forms naturally (C12) and one that forms during a process that interacts with nitrogen in the atmosphere (C14).
“Both of these combine with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2), which we breathe out and plants take in. When a cow eats grass, its body absorbs the carbon (both C12 and C14) in the plant. When the cow dies, it stops taking in carbon (for obvious reasons). The amount of C12 in the cow’s body stays the same after death, but the amount of C14 changes because it returns to nitrogen.”1
“For instance, plants don’t take in as much C14 as scientists expect. So, after they die, there is less C14 in the plants to change back to nitrogen. This makes the plant appear to have died many more years ago than it actually did (for example, the plant might appear to be, say, 3,000 years old, rather than 2,000).
“Also, the amounts of C14 and C12 in the atmosphere haven’t been constant throughout history (for instance, Noah’s Flood lowered the total amount of available carbon by burying lots of animals and plants). So something that lived (and died) when the proportion of 14C was less than normal would appear to have died more years ago than it actually did (for example, it might give an age of 3,000 years before the present, rather than its true age of 2,000 years).”2
Knowing this you can see how illogical the statement that “the current ratio of a radioactive isotope to a stable isotope of the same element and the known ratio of the two isotopes in living organisms” are both an 1) an assumption and 2) inaccurate.
Many archaeologists and even some paleontologists don’t believe carbon dating is accurate all the time. So it is reasonable, when all the problems surrounding radiometric dating are taken into account, that the time frames actually can fit into the biblical timeframe. But even results that fit into a young earth chronology cannot be used to prove the age of once-living things. Carbon 14 dating is just not that reliable.
Next week we will look into how to “find” a “date”.
Until then, may our Lord Jesus shine brightly on you!
Willow Dressel
This week in the night skies: for the northern latitudes; “Thursday, February 20. As dawn breaks Friday morning the 21st, spot the waning Moon in the south with Saturn to its left. Off to their right are Mars and Spica (out of the frame above).”
For the southern hemisphere; “On the morning of Saturday February 22 Saturn is occulted by the Moon as seen from the most of Australia. This is a daylight occultation (the other two this year are at night time) and requires binoculars or at least a small telescope to see. The occultation occurs in the mid morning with the Moon will be quite high above the north west the horizon, with the Moon easily visible in daylight. It is advisable to set up and practise on the Moon a day or so before the event, so you are familar with your telescope set-up. Set up at least half an hour ahead of time so that you can be sure everything is working well and you can watch the entire event comfortably (trying to focus you telescope on Saturn moments before the occultataion will cause a lot of unnecessary stress). Saturn will be visible in a telescope or binoculars near the Moon, but will be very washed out. Be sure to set up with the Sun behind a wall or building so that it will not be possible to accidently pass you scope or binoculars over the Sun. Permanent blindness can occur if you do this.”
References:
1,2http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/cm/v24/n3/kids
4http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm#Occult
Your science is bad and un-researched. And you should be ashamed for giving out such poorly sourced material. Read a book before you spew this nonsense
ReplyDeleteI have researched this topic extensively. Can you please relate which facts you feel are bad and un-researched?
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Willow Dressel