(June 8, 2025 at 10:10 pm)Paleophyte Wrote:(June 8, 2025 at 9:45 pm)SubtleVirtue Wrote: how do you know it was that old; can you give a solid deduction axiom for axiom to deduce your claim?
Yes, but the TLDR is that we know the rate at which radioactive isotopes decay and what they decay into. That rate is constant. Measure the rate and measure the amount of decay within a sample, do some pretty rudimentary math, and you get the decay time. There are a few assumptions that you'll need to check for a robust result, but they probably aren't what you think.
How do you know the decay rate for anything besides carbon 14... we know that the carbon 14 is from the radiation hiting the atmosphere but where does the radio isotopes come from from the other processes?
