Atheists: Did you know carbon dating can not prove the earth's age?

Question

A creationist pointed out to me that carbon dating can not be used to prove the earth is millions of years old.

I thought he was wrong but after a little research I realize he was right. Carbon dating can only predict ages up to 60,000 years. Looks like a few of us on here have been repeating rhetoric without scientific evidence. (like some people we all know)

Radiometric dating is used to prove the earths age at 4+billion years old.

Radiometric dating is gonna be a little harder to remember than Carbon dating but I think it will be worth the effort to remain scientifically correct.

Do you agree?

I just wanted Atheists to use correct terminology.

Answer 1

Yep... That is why it tickles me when Creationists claim it returned at 2 million years or so. And C14 is a form of radiometric dating, as is U-Pb and K-Ar. It just has too short of a half life to be useful at anything over 60-100,000 years.

Answer 2

Palaeontologist don't use carbon-14 because its half-life is only 5,568 years, this isn't at all helpful for dating dinosaur bones which are millions of years old. This is why they use three other methods; 1) Sedimentary rock layers (strata) are formed episodically as earth is deposited horizontally over time. Newer layers are formed on top of older layers, pressurizing them into rocks. Paleontologists can estimate the amount of time that has passed since the stratum containing the fossil was formed. Generally, deeper rocks and fossils are older than those found above them. 2) Looking for index fossils - Certain common fossils are important in determining ancient biological history. These fossil are widely distributed around the Earth but limited in time span. Both these methods are known as relative dating but thay don't give any dates which brings us to method 3. 3) Radioisotope-dating of igneous rocks found near the fossil. Unstable radioactive isotopes of elements, such as Uranium-235, decay at constant, known rates over time (its half-life, which is over 700 million years). An accurate estimate of the rock's age can be determined by examining the ratios of the remaining radioactive element and its daughters.

Answer 3

Carbon Dating is the only kind of Dating Creationists really know about... and they only learned that from the Creationist pamphlets, not from any Science book. To explain Radiometric dating, the kind used to prove the earths age, would probably only confuse them more and send them into a frenzy and everyone would be reported.

Answer 4

well carbon dating is quite adequate to show that the earth is at least ten times older than the young earthers say it is, and that is something that should not be dismissed lightly. many types of dating suffice for this, including tree ring dating, ice core dating, varve dating... the weight of evidence against a young earth is overwhelming. the case FOR the particular old age currently accepted by science is not quite so good, but still adequately supported.

you are quite correct, radiometric dating is a generic term that doesn't specify which isotope system is used. radiocarbon (carbon-14) dating is only one type of radiometric dating. many isotope systems with different half-lives and therefore different 'clock rates' can be used, including uranium/lead, potassium/argon, etc. the methods which actually are applicable to old rocks agree pretty well when used to date those rocks.

Answer 5

Most dating methods are flawed in one form or another and cannot be considered totally accurate given the enormous so-called ages they predict...there's no way a mother-daughter isotope sample can be verified as to being 100 percent intact from the source material or that some other influence has not occured in the supposed enormous lapses of time. Many assumptions are also injected into the process which may not be accurate as well and will skew the results. If there were more than one accurate way to measure dates that were in synch with each other's results 100 percent of the time, it might be useful but there is not. Once again, it's a dating method based on preconceived beliefs of long periods of time.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-radiometric-dating-prove
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometric_dating

Answer 6

Everyone knows that. I mean smart people, you know, who aren't creationists.


NEWSFLASH: There are many many other kinds of radioisotopes used to date the earth. Like ones with LONGer half-lifes! You didn't do very much research did you?

Carbon 12 or 14 dating is just one of the radiometric dating methods.

Creationists are just really really dumb, they think that because C14 can't determine the age of the earth, that it's invalid. It was never supposed to determine the age of the earth. That's like saying by counting the rings in a tree trunk to determine the age of a tree is invalid because it can't also determine the age of the earth. Does that make sense to any person with more than a half a brain?

Answer 7

Yes, the popular term is carbon dating though and it is so difficult to change language patterns.

It is also worth noting that dating stuff according to C14 decay is really only for things that were living at one time.

Answer 8

And welcome to the FACT that carbon dating was proven years ago to be a highly inaccurate way of measuring. So, if you think I'm swallowing that other forms of Radiometric dating are accurate --- think again. A few years ago we were being told that consuming eggs increases cholesterol, then a few years later that they actually lower cholesterol. I could give countless examples of how "godless science", as opposed to real science, is constantly reversing its conclusions.

Answer 9

i've known that for a long time... the goal of the creationists is really to bank on the ignorance, i think, of the average layperson. most people hear that carbon dating is not accurate and leave it at that. that's because it fits with what most people want to believe, i.e. their faith. very few will bother to question how we know the earth is as old as we estimate.

Answer 10

thats fantastic. Did you also know that God is a creater that creates things and Himself ages them, just like Adam. So to test things to see how old they are does not really prove age either. Like previously stated only God truly knows the age of the earth.