Relative Dating Analysis

The age of the earth has been debated for centuries. Many people believe in evolution that it took billions of years for everything and everyone to form. Others believe that God created the earth in seven days and that the earth is young. Secular scientist and Christian scientist both use different methods for determining how old the earth is. For example, Secular scientist look and use the layers of rocks to help them, while Christian scientist uses the Bible and look at historical data from other cultures to help them. Doesn't looking at archeological data seem more accurate than looking at rocks? If the earth is truly billions of years old, then why is there little sediment on the sea floor? Or how can secular scientist explain finding soft tissue in a fossil if the earth is old? The most logical explanation is that the earth is young. Many people believe something just because people say that it is true, sometimes it is good to investigate for yourself and see if it is good for you.

Radiometric dating is a technique that utilizes unstable isotopes of natural elements. Because these unstable isotopes eventually decay at a constant and singular rate despite any environmental changes such as temperature or moisture changes. The unit used as measurement is a half-life which is the amount of time it takes 50% of the original isotope to decay into the next isotope or daughter isotope. Basically the amount of half-lives is multiplied by the length of the half-life to estimate the age of the object being tested. Every element used has a different half-life and that makes each useful for measuring certain types of material. Some have longer a half-life and thus a longer effective dating range. Potassium-argon dating is useful for dating material that is extremely old. This method is used by geologists to replace relative ages based on rock formation with absolute ages. The dates found from the radiometric technique are accurate because the sources, the individual radioactive isotopes, are unchanging and unaffected by environmental factors. This means that the radiometric data will always be precise unlike relative dating which relies on the theory of uniformitarianism, the theory that geological history is made up of endless and uniform

Until the early 1900's, scientists used several methods of measurement in their efforts to determine the age of the Earth. They studied sedimentation and erosion, stratification (with fossil evidence), measured the salinity of the oceans, and used thermodynamics to determine loss of heat since the Earth's beginning. Each of these approaches yielded estimates that the Earth was anywhere from 24 to 100 million years old.

Encyclopaedia Britannica also states that it is “proved to be a versatile technique of dating fossils and archaeological specimens from 500 to 50,000 years old” (1998). This method of age determination is dependent upon the decay of nitrogen and radiocarbon (Carbon-14) (Encyclopaediea Britannica, 1998; Opinions of Radiocarbon Dating, 2011). Carbon-14 is continually formed in nature by the interaction of neutrons with nitrogen-14 in the Earth’s atmosphere (Encyclopaediea Britannica, 1998; Opinions of Radiocarbon Dating, 2011) and all living things exchange the gas carbon-14 with the atmosphere surrounding them. The amount of carbon-14 exchanged into the living organism is perfectly balanced with its surroundings, but when an organism dies, they stop taking in the gas and that equilibrium is damaged. Because Carbon-14 slowly decays at a known rate called its “half-life” in a dead organism, scientists can figure out how long ago it had stopped exchanging carbon with its atmosphere. Thus, its age can be determined by measuring the amount of Carbon-14 in a sample (Hirst, 2017; Opinions of Radiocarbon Dating, 2017; Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit Research Laboratory for Archaeology, n.d.; Earthsky, 2017; Cram, 1993). With the utilisation of Radiocarbon Dating, scientists have been able to discover that Lindow

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Scientist are able to use modern instruments to accurately date these rocks by measuring radioactive decay. These rocks are approximently 1.7 billion years old, less than half the age of the earth. These black rocks tell scientist not only how old they date back but

The Grand Canyon is a plethora of geological treasures. However, the debate on how old the Grand Canyon really is continues throughout the scientific community. Between relative dating and absolute dating, which one will give a more accurate answer or will both be needed?

The methods used to date the various rocks in Grand Canyon fall into one of two methods: Relative dating and Absolute dating. These two methods for dating are accurately named. Since relative dating is based mostly upon paleontology and the Law of Superposition, it is a dating system which can cover a very large timespan. Also, there are a few drawbacks to it, the primary one I noticed was that the farther one goes back in time, the fewer fossils there

Dating the rocks of the Grand Canyon is a scientific way to find out the age of this mysterious landmark. The age of the Earth and the Grand Canyon is a question both of a biblical interpretation and scientific investigation. It can be viewed by an old earth creationist and young earth creationist. The two creationists have a difference of opinion concerning the formation and age of the Grand Canyon rocks.

Before the discovery of radiometric methods to determine the age of the Earth, the first few attempts were off by thousands of millions

Clair Patterson the geochemist created the uranium-lead dating method to illustrate Earth’s age. He explores ways and procedures utilized to measure how old the Earth is. After finding out that his attempts at researching the Earth’s age is unsteady, he realized that it was lead contamination. Patterson needed to find a way to remove neurotoxin lead from gasoline.

This method is used to determine the exact age of fossils, artifacts and the earth. This involves, examining several strata of the crust of the earth to show the time intervals of one layer of rock to another layer as well as use the layering principle to confirm the series of cultures.

With the use of detrital zircon dating, and minor use of authigenic monazite dating, estimations of age constraints can be applied to the Proterozoic basins on the south Australian island, Tasmania. Zircon minerals occur as a trace component in many sedimentary rocks. Therefore due to its widespread occurrence and its relative resistance to both mechanical and chemical weathering, which enhances its chance of survival through processes of transportation, dating methods through zircon minerals have become a standard for dating sedimentary basins (Black et al).

This changed history forever. While it created controversy, due to some people’s attachments to the old ways of dating and doubts in this revolutionary method, it proved to be the closest method to have an accurate chronology of history. In 1955, to prove the accuracy or radiocarbon, Libby published a graph that showed the comparison of the results of radiocarbon dating of specimens from Egypt. These specimens had already an absolute known date. The graph proved the accuracy of Libby’s radiocarbon dating. Figure 1 (Renfrew, 1973)

By testing sediment and recording whether it was deposited under conditions of normal polarity and then measuring successive layers, we can build a time chart. By matching different charts from different areas with similar fossils, a more global correlation can be made.