Without using carbon-dating, what do scientists use to determine age of our planet?
2007-01-24 02:32:37 · 7 answers · asked by riogrande_texas 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
They use radiometric dating which uses isotopes with half lives of millions and billions of years. Here's a pretty decent article on it. Carbon dating is useless for those kind of time spans
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html
2007-01-24 02:50:03 · answer #1 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Eugene got it right. There are other methods as well. As a geologists, I have studied how continents have formed. I have studied how sediments are deposited. The processess involved in laying down sediments, building up continents, burying those sediments sometimes to the point of creating "S" type Granites. S stands for sediment origin. You can look at a certain sequence in say a Permian shale and see the yearly accumulation of fine grained sediments over thousands of years. Add this to the similar sediment sequences all over the world and it adds to millions of years. It certainly supports the evidence for the earth being over 4 billion years old. This is just one of many bits of evidence.
2007-01-24 11:59:11 · answer #2 · answered by JimZ 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
By using carbon dating. However I do not believe in carbon dating, because what's in the air that we breath...(carbon)
THink about it
2007-01-24 10:54:58 · answer #3 · answered by ĦΛЏĢħŦŞŧμρђ 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
there are other ways of dating substances with less accuracy than carbon dating but much older.
2007-01-24 10:37:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Guesses
2007-01-24 10:48:41 · answer #5 · answered by URFI 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
checking the radio active materals
2007-01-24 10:45:19 · answer #6 · answered by JAMES 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
at best the earth is 14000 yrs old not billions or millions sheesh
2007-01-24 11:59:05 · answer #7 · answered by Pastor Biker 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋