RE: How old is the Earth?
October 13, 2010 at 5:33 am
(This post was last modified: October 13, 2010 at 5:39 am by Anomalocaris.)
(October 13, 2010 at 5:02 am)TheDarkestOfAngels Wrote:(October 13, 2010 at 3:37 am)Statler Waldorf Wrote: I don't think you got all of your assumptions down. If you ascribe to Radiometric dating you must first assume that the radiometricsumption decay has been constant. You must then also assume that there were no daughter elements present at the formation of the Earth correct?
What other assumptions are you looking for me to provide?
I do assume radiometric dating is relatively constant.
I do assume that there were no daughter elements present at the formation of the Earth.
Both of these assumptions are sound.
1. Radioactive decay is fundamentally governed by the strong nuclear force, which also govern nuclear fusion. If there is difference in radioactive decay rate over time, that would reflect a change In strong nuclear interaction over time. This would be also reflected in the behavior of nuclear fusion in stars over time. We can directly observe that behavior of nuclear fusion in stars over time by observing stars and galaxies at different number of light years from earth, thus viewing them directly at different points in the past. We can see nuclear fusion has not changed over time, so neither has the behavior of strong nuclear interaction, and neither has radioactive decay.
2. The presence of daughter elements at the beginning is impossible because the mineral useful for such dating mostly can be demonstrated to have been melted in the past. The daughter elements of reactions most useful to radiometric dating are those which would have floated to the top, sunk to the bottom, or bubbled out of the melt, thus the melting process would have purged the material of any primordial inventory of daughter element. So the radiometric dating accurately measures how long it has been since the material last melted.