Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!SDSUMUS!D2MG
From: D2MG@SDSUMUS (Kurt Evans)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Subject: KE: Radioactive Dating
Message-ID: <08FEB90.24265350.0010.MUSIC@SDSUMUS>
Date: 9 Feb 90 04:28:04 GMT
Sender: Practical Christian Life <CHRISTIA@FINHUTC>
Reply-To: Practical Christian Life <CHRISTIA@FINHUTC>
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     Some kinds of radioactive materials decay at a very slow rate.
This means that a certain percent of different radioactive elements
slowly turn into other elements.  Carbon 14 turns into carbon 12.
Uranium turns into thorium and then into lead.  Rubidium turns into
strontium.

     Scientists have tried to calculate the age of fossils and rocks
by measuring the amount of these elements.  They then figure out how
long it would take for the source material, carbon 14, uranium or ru-
bidium, to decay into carbon 12, thorium or lead, or strontium.  This
figure gives scientists what they believe is the approximate age of
the fossil or rock being dated.

     In dating the earth, scientists rely primarily on the uranium-lead
and potassium-argon methods.  Dates obtained from these techniques are
based on three primary assumptions.  None of these assumptions can be
scientifically proven.

(1) THE ROCK CONTAINED NO DAUGHTER PRODUCT ATOMS IN THE BEGINNING, ONLY
PARENT ATOMS.  The scientific method is based on observation and exper-
imentation.  Since we cannot observe or experiment with the original
rock, this assumption is non-scientific.  Since daughter products are
found widely distributed in the earth's crust, it is entirely within
the realm of possibility, if not probability, that they were present
to begin with.

(2) SINCE THEN, NO PARENT OR DAUGHTER ATOMS WERE EITHER ADDED TO, OR
TAKEN FROM THE ROCK.  Heating and deforming of rocks can cause migra-
tion of the daughter and parent atoms.  Percolation of water through
the rocks can also cause these atoms to be transported and redeposited
elsewhere.

(3) THE RATE OF RADIOACTIVE DECAY HAS REMAINED CONSTANT.  Recent re-
search suggests that exposure to neutrino, neutron, or cosmic radiation
may alter the rates of radioactive decay.  Radioactive decay is also
known to be proportional to the speed of light, which some scientists,
including Barry Setterfield, believe has actually decreased.  Also, we
now know that factors like heat and high electric voltages definitely
change the rate of decay of many elements.

     Hawaiian lava flows, which are known to be less than 200 years
old, have been dated by the potassium-argon method at up to 3 billion
years old.
                                       For Jesus' glory,
                                       Kurt