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31st January 2003, 02:17 PM
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1. The Carbon 14 dating procedure is only good on objects that are dead...that were once living. Carbon 14 is absorbed and ingested by all living plants, animals and humans and only begins to diminish after death. The Carbon-14 dating method measures the decay and converts that decay into years.
2. Rocks, minerals and fully mineralized fossils cannot be dated by the "radiocarbon" method.
3. Even ardent proponents of Carbon-14 dating know that past 50,000 years, the Carbon-14 remaining in a once-living object would be so minute that no reliable measurement could be made.
4. May scientists doubt Carbon-14 dating's accuracy beyond 3,000 years. |
31st January 2003, 02:19 PM
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If #4 was true, why would any scientist use it to date an object believed to be older than 3,000 years? Clearly they do use it, so there must be some level of confidence in its accuracy.
Edited to add: #3 is true today, but as the accuracy of the measuring technique improves, this limit may be extended. |
31st January 2003, 02:21 PM
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So what mechanism is used to date the Earth as being older than 6,000 years? |
31st January 2003, 02:33 PM
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Reps: 5,365 (power: 27) | | | There are other methods. But Carbon 14 dating can be accurate beyond 6000 years, so it works good enough.
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31st January 2003, 02:35 PM
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Reps: 64,647 (power: 108) | | | Radiometric dating is not generally carbon dating. Note that just counting rings in fossilized trees will get you some ways back...
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31st January 2003, 02:49 PM
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Reps: 6,731 (power: 20) | | Originally posted by s0uljah
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So what mechanism is used to date the Earth as being older than 6,000 years?
Radiometric dating using such systems as K-40 to A-40 decay and perhaps the most powerful method of all, isochron dating which involves systems such as U-Pb, Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr. These nuclides have much longer half-lives which allow us to date on a longer time scale.
However, since C-dating has an accuracy of ~50,000 years, that's older than 6,000 years to begin with. That's just not what we use to find the 4.45 billion year old bound that radiometric dating has provided. |
31st January 2003, 02:51 PM
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Reps: 10 (power: 0) | | Originally posted by Mechanical Bliss
Radiometric dating using such systems as K-40 to A-40 decay and perhaps the most powerful method of all, isochron dating which involves systems such as U-Pb, Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr. These nuclides have much longer half-lives which allow us to date on a longer time scale.
I'll have to read up on that because I have no idea what you are talking about.  |
31st January 2003, 02:54 PM
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Reps: 25 (power: 0) | | | Weins' ASA paper is very easy to understand.
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Evolution: The change of properties of populations of organisms over time.
Microevolution: Evolution apparent within species.
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31st January 2003, 02:54 PM
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Reps: 10 (power: 0) | | Originally posted by s0uljah I'll have to read up on that because I have no idea what you are talking about.
Here's some help: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/isochron-dating.html | | |
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