Dating methods

Prepared byEd van Ouwerkerk

campus staff at Iowa State University campus

Christian Worldview DevelopmentSeries on

Creation-Evolution-Science and the Bible

The Bible says that the creation of the earth was completedin six days: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array“ (Genesis 2:1)

When we sum 76 generations (according to Luke) from Adam to Jesus

and add 2012 years since the birth of Jesus, the earth is approx.6,000 years old (not billions), if we believe that - Genesis 1 is history and no poetry and that- between Genesis 1, verses 2 and 3 is no time span.

We will discuss two articles, written by Mike Riddle:

Does radiometric dating prove the earth is old? 1

1 The New Answers Book by Ken Ham, Volume 1, Chapter 9.

Doesn’t carbon-14 dating disprove the Bible? 2

2 The New Answers Book by Ken Ham, Volume 1, Chapter 7.

There are certain kinds of atoms (radioisotopes)in nature that are unstable and spontaneously change (decay) in other kinds of atoms.

Potassium decays to argon.Uranium and Potassium are called the parent element and Lead and Argon are called thedaughter element.

Uranium-238Thorium-234Protactinium-234Uranium-234Thorium-230Radium-226Radon-222Polonium-218Lead-214Bismuth-214Polonium-214Lead-210Bismuth-210Polonium-210Lead-206 (stable)

Uranium radioactively decays through a seriesof steps until it becomes the stable elementlead.

Uranium to leaddecay sequence.The number representsthe number of protonsand neutrons in thenucleus of the atom.

Radioisotope dating is used to date igneous rocks. That are rocks which form when hot, molten material cools and solidifies; rocks like granite and basalt.

granite basalt

Sedimentary rocks (like sandstone, shale, and limestone), that holdmost of the world’s fossils, cannot be dated with radioisotope dating techniques, because they are comprised of particles from preexisting rocks , which were transported by water and redeposited somewhere else.

sandstone shale limestone

AssumptionsDuring the molten state it is assumed that the intense heat will force any gaseous daughter elements like argon escape. Once the rock cools it is assumed that no more atoms can escape and any daughter element found in a rock will be the result of radioactive decay.

The radioisotope dating clock starts when a rock cools.

The dating process then requires measuring how much daughterelement is in a rock sample and knowing the decay rate (expressedin half-life), to be assumed to have been constant for millions of years.

Parent Daughter Half-lifePolonium-218 Lead-214 3 minutesThorium-234 Protactinium-234 24 daysCarbon-14 Nitrogen-14 5,730 yearsPotassium-40 Argon-40 1.25 billion yearsUranium-238 Lead-206 4.47 billion yearsRubidium-87 Strontium-87 48.8 billion years

The following half-life times have been measured in labsduring the last few decades (present observable decay rates):

Initial conditions at time of formation can never be observed.

Let’s now watch a 9-minute video by Mike Riddle about radiometric dating and its assumptions.

Let’s watch a 1 minute video about a radiometric dating technique.

Therefore three critical assumptions must be made that affectthe results of radioisotope dating:

1. Initial conditions, unknown environmental conditions

2. The amount of parent and daughter elements in a sample that has not been altered by processes other than radioactive decay.

3. The decay rate (in half-life) of the parent isotope has been constant since the rock was formed

RATE Group, by Creation Research InstituteIn 1997 an eight-year research project was started to investigate theage of the earth. The group was called the RATE Group = Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth.

The team of scientists included: Larry Vardiman, PhD Atmospheric Science Russell Humphreys, PhD Physics Eugene Chaffin, PhD Physics Donald DeYoung, PhD Physics John Baumgartner, PhD Geophysics, Steven Austin, PhD Geology Andrew Snelling, PhD Geology Stephen Boyd, PhD Hebraic and Cognate Studies

The objective of the research was to gather data commonly ignored or censored by evolutionary standards of dating. The scientists reviewed the assumptions and procedures used in estimating the ages of rocks and fossils.

There is another form of dating called isochron dating, which involves analyzing four or more samples from the same rock unit. This method attempts to eliminate one of the assumptions (startingconditions). However, it includes another assumption which canintroduce errors.

Tests carried out by the RATE groupRocks from volcanoes with known ages were sent to a lab for radioisotope dating.

Here are the results:Rock location Rock

formation inRocks dated to be

Mount St. Helens, USA 1986 0.5 – 2.8 million years oldMount Ngauruhoe, NZ 1949-1975 0.27 – 3.5 million years old

More recent research by the RATE group (2005) indicates that the very slow decay of Uranium-238 to Lead-206 of today, in the pastmust have been accelerated to helium escape from zirconcrystals in granite. The RATE group suggests that this accelerateddecay took place early during the Creation Week and againduring the Flood.

Based on the measured helium retention, a statistical analysis givesan estimated age for zircons of 6,000 ± 2,000 years, which is 250,000 times shorter than the conventional age of 1,5 billion years,and which is closely according to the biblical creation account.

It must be concluded that because nuclear decay has been shown tohave occurred at grossly accelerated rates when molten rocks wereforming, crystallizing and cooling, the radiometric methods cannotpossibly date these rocks accurately based on false assumption ofconstant decay through earth history at today’s slow rates.

Thus the radiometric dating methods are highly unreliable and don’t prove the earth is old.

“By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place” Proverbs 3:19

Carbon-14 dating for fossils

This method can be used for determining the age of once-living things (organic materials: plants, animals), up to 50,000 years.

There is also the radioactive unstable carbon isotope Carbon-14 (having 8 instead of 6 neutrons). Carbon-14 is constantly decaying, but is also constantly added to the atmosphere by cosmic radiationfrom outer space.These cosmic rays collide with atoms in the atmosphere and cancause them to come apart. Neutrons that come from thesefragmented atoms collide with 14N atoms and convert theminto 14C atoms.

In nature we find Carbon-12, a stable atom holding 6 protonsand 6 neutrons in its nucleus.

Once 14C is produced, it combines with oxygen in the atmosphereto form CO2, which is incorporated into plants/food. So we alleat food that contains 12C and 14C , in the same ratio as the air we breath. When living organisms die, the intake of 14C stops and the decayof 14C starts. By measuring the ratio of 14C to 12C with anAccelerator Mass Spectrometer we can determine the age ofthe dead organism.

In order to interpret the results correctly we need to know:1. How fast is the 14C decay, and has it always been so? (The half-life of 14C is today 5,730 years)2. What was the starting amount of 14C in the creature when it died. (today there is one 14C atom in one trillion 12C atoms in the atmosphere)

Willard Libby, evolutionist and the founder of the carbon-14 dating method in 1949, assumed the ratio 14C to 12C to be constant over time.

If that is true, production of 14C (by cosmic rays) and removal of 14C (by decay) must be the same and in equilibrium.

However, Libby stated that the earth (that is billions of years old)started without 14C in its atmosphere and it would take 30,000 years to reach 14C production and removal equilibrium. He also stated that equilibrium still hasn’t been reached today. Doesn’t he say thenthat the earth must be younger than 30,000 years? He actuallysays that the 14C/12C ratio is not constant.The Specific Production Rate (SPR) of 14C is known to be 18.8 atoms per gram of total carbon per minute. The Specific Decay Rate (SDR) is known to be only 16.1 + / - 0.5 disintegrations per gram per minute. The difference between these two numbers shows that the buildup in the biosphere hasn't had time to catch up with production in the stratosphere. In other words, the earth's atmosphere must be less than some fifty thousand years old! (ref)

One of the reasons that the production of 14C in our stratosphere isn’t constant is the decay of the magnetic field of the earth.

Also it is assumed that the amount of vegetation to decay into thebiosphere has been about 500 times higher prior to theGenesis flood than after the flood. That subject will be discussed inother part of this series.

Read about the effects of the fading magnetic field and the effectsof the Genesis flood in this article by Larry Humphreys.

Conclusion

All radiometric dating methods are based on, mostly evolutionary,assumptions about events that happened in the past.

In the reported ages given in textbooks and journals, theseevolutionary assumptions have not been questioned, whileresults inconsistent with long ages have been censored.

When assumptions are evaluated and shown to be faulty,the thereafter adjusted results mostly support the biblicalaccount of a global flood and a young earth.