Radiometric Dating: Quotes

This is the Quotes of the Day for Scientists Dating?

“The rate of creation of carbon-14 appears to be roughly constant, as cross-checks of carbon-14 dating with other dating methods show it gives consistent results. However, local eruptions of volcanoes or other events that give off large amounts of carbon dioxide can reduce local concentrations of carbon-14 and give inaccurate dates.”  Academic Kids

To get an idea of how common it is for volcanos to mess with carbon-14, have a look at the map.  If you look up what the colors mean, you will find that purple means exposed volcanic rock, orange means volcanic rock, pink means sedimentary over volcanic rock, and the other colors you can’t tell from the picture.  That’s a lot of volcanically formed rock!

As for the “other events that give off large amounts of carbon dioxide”  have a look at what happened to form Limestone.  Awesome, and I would have never connected these things until now!

“To date a sedimentary rock, it is necessary to isolate a few unusual minerals (if present) which formed on the seafloor as the rock was cemented.” Emphasis original. Pamela J. W. Gore Georgia Perimeter College. Well, one thing she mentions in her Radiometric Dating page is accurate!

If you want to study a lot more about Radiometric Dating, have a look at these pages:

David A. Plaisted, professor at U. of North Carolina has two long pages covering why Radiometric Dating isn’t reliable:

• The Radiometric Dating Game nicely divided so you can skip to what you’re interested in
• More Bad News for Radiometric Dating with lots of stuff about magma that I bet you never heard of before!

Here’s an older page talking about the problems of Dating Egyptian artifacts (like Tutankhamen).

And Answers in Genesis’ long article explaining it all:

Radiometric Dating

• Part 1 Back to Basics
• Part 2 Problems with the Assumptions
• Part 3 Making Sense of the Patterns

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Obadiah 1:3  (I know, it’s out of context, but doesn’t it fit?)