(March 23, 2023 at 6:05 pm)Statler Waldorf Wrote: I think you are getting a few of your terms confused. Radiometric dating is only used to date igneous rocks, so it could not be used on the pyramids or organic matter. Radiocarbon dating is used on organic matter I hope that helps :-)
Radiometric dating is any technique that uses the constant decay rate of an unstable isotope to determine an age. These techniques include radiocarbon (14-C) amongst a host of techniques that are utterly unsuited for dating the overwhelming majority of rocks. For example, you'd have to be a very special type of nit-wit to try to pull an 81-Krypton age out of a rock. Either that or a bloody genius who has found a niche application for it where other geochron techniques fail.
(March 23, 2023 at 10:39 pm)Statler Waldorf Wrote: "Of the three basic rock types, igneous rocks are most suited for radiometric dating. Metamorphic rocks may also be radiometrically dated. However, radiometric dating generally yields the age of metamorphism, not the age of the original rock."- Our Planet Today
Unless of course you are arguing that secular geological sources like Our Planet Today do not know what they are talking about, in which case I might be persuaded to agree with you.
I would suggest that "Our Planet Today" is presenting a very simplified explanation that you have misunderstood. Not only are many igneous rocks poor candidates for radiometric dating, there is a host of non-geological materials that are commonly dated by radiometric means including:
- Wood (and other plant remains)
- Mammoths (and other corpses)
- Teeth (toenails, fingernails, hair, scales, shells, etc...)
- Ice (OK, *technically* a rock. Don't get me started. It's irksome)
- Water (the liquid variety and definitely not a rock)
- Pottery, glass, and ceramics
- Supernovae and a variety of other highly energetic astronomical events.
