Carbon 14?

Question

Carbon-14 is produced in the upper atmosphere by action of cosmic rays. Once the C 14 has been formed, by converting nitrogen-14 into carbon-14, it behaves like ordinary carbon-12, combining with oxygen to give carbon dioxide, and freely cycling through the cells of all plants and animals. Carbon-14 is used for a dating material because once it has been formed, C14 begins to decay radioactively back to nitrogen-14, at a rate of change that can be measured. As soon as an organism dies, the C14 atoms which decay are no longer replaced by new ones through respiration. Consequently, the ratio of C14 to C12 in that once-living organism decreases as time goes on. The problem with the carbon dating method is—scientists can not be sure of what the C14/C12 ratio was when the organism died. Carbon dating assumes that the ratio has remained constant; however, events, such as the industrial revolution, are known to have raised C12 levels. Other possible factors, such as the presence of a water canopy, would have lowered the amount of C14 in the pre-Flood world. Because pre-Flood specimens had so little carbon-14 in them, some might appear to have been decaying for tens of thousands of years. Also, the decay of the earth’s magnetic field would have direct effects on C14 level, again, giving artificially old ages the farther you go back in time. Finally, carbon dating has been shown untrustworthy with some present day aquatic specimens that were concluded to be thousands of years old. For example, the shells of living snails’ were carbon dated and showed that the snails had died 27,000 years ago. Other specimens have been carbon dated more than once, each time producing a different date varying by thousands of years. In overview, we see that the radiocarbon dating method is certainly no embarrassment to the Biblical creationist who believes in a young earth. In fact, when all data, such as the decay of the magnetic field and the canopy, is taken into accord, carbon dating seems to support a young earth.

Answer 1

While the information on this is great, as Christians we are called to be shining examples to all. We are to obey the laws of the land, and here in Yahoo Answers, the law of the land is the community guidelines, which clearly state that you MUST ask a question. For this I must report you.

I wanted to also add that the phenomenon with C14 and water is not just reserved to aquatic animals. It has been shown that C14 is water soluble, and if something dead is pulled from the water the C14/C12 ratio will be off, even after a short time. I believe animals that died in the flood would qualify. It should also be noted that archeologists find C14 dating the least reliable method of dating. If they find a skeleton with a certain piece of pottery, for example, and the skeleton dates too old for what they believe is reasonable for the pottery they will reject the C14 date of the skeleton.

Answer 2

C-12, C-13 and C-14 are all isotopes of carbon. the number of protons in the nucleus determines the element, i.e. all C atoms have 6 protons in their nucleus (if there is anything but 6 protons, then the element is not carbon) besides protons, there are also neutrons in the nucleus of all atoms (only one isotope of hydrogen has no neutrons) and it is the number of neutrons that makes one isotope of an element different from another isotope of the same element C-12 has 6 protons and 6 neutrons C-13 has 6 protons and 7 neutrons C-14 has 6 protons and 8 neutrons note that the number of protons + number of neutrons gives you the mass number of the isotope additional: after seeing some of the other answers, just want to help clarify two things ... just because C-12 is by far the most abundant isotope of carbon (most carbon found in nature is C-12) it is still just that ... an isotope of carbon. it is also not important whether a particular configuration of 6 protons and some number of neutrons is will stay together forever as long as they can be assembled for some arbitrarily short amount of time ... this is just the difference between stable and unstable isotopes

Answer 3

There are other factors that go into dating of things, something you may want to think about. Such as dinosaur bones are no longer organic. The organic molecules over time get replaced with minerals, like that of a petrified tree. This takes a long time to happen in most cases. A lot of the primate fossils that have been found still have some of the organic materials in it meaning that their bones are not as old as dinosaurs bones. Carbon dating is not the only way that things are dated, the level at which they are found is used as well in conjunction with carbon dating. Putting all of these factors together help us come up with a very good guess.

Answer 4

Scientists will soon explain why people are religious and believe in God.

Scientists will soon explain why some people are religious and believe in God, and why there’s so much trouble caused in the world by religion. Scientists have already shown that some people carry a "warrior" gene that makes them more prone to violence and criminal acts.

Some people are genetically predisposed to violence and criminal acts, and I believe scientists have also found that some people are genetically predisposed to religious or spiritual acts, but have yet to publish their full findings to avoid a public uproar.

Scientists may well discover that people who are predisposed to the “religious or spiritual” gene are probably more likely to also be predisposed to the “warrior” gene, which would ultimately cause these people to have religious conflicts like crusades and wars. It is already a well known fact that religion is responsible for the majority of wars, conflict and murder of innocent life since humanity began.

Religious people do not understand the question “why” and so God, Religion, the Bible, or whatever, takes over and controls their mind. The trouble with this solution, unlike science, is that anything can be twisted into whatever you wish to believe and therefore is always right. Sadly to say, that’s irrational thought.

However, there must be a rational explanation why religious people act in such an irrational manner, and I think scientists will prove in the near future that it’s all a function of genetic disposition.

Answer 5

Actually, the ratio of 12 to 14 has changed over time, and the changes are accurately known and established to within 0.00045%. You can fine data in any good P.Chem reference book published in the last 20 years.

Answer 6

"In overview, we see that the radiocarbon dating method is certainly no embarrassment to the Biblical creationist who believes in a young earth."

No amount of evidence could embarrass a biblical creationist. That's the problem.

Answer 7

yep geochronometers show a young earth bias too. out of the 300 someodd (including decay ageing) only 1% even get out older than 2 million years.

Answer 8

Your list of lies are all addressed here, when you want to actually learn something:

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hovind/howgood-c14.html

Answer 9

AMEN!
Also, scientists decide which dating method to use based on what they think the answer is.

Answer 10

I cannot answer this. It is not a question.