1. Dating Fossils
and Rocks

2.  Carbon-14 dating
 Radioisotope dating
 The Biblical age of the earth

3. The Atom
 Fundamental unit of matter
 Made up of components called subatomic
particles
 Proton (positive charge)
 Neutron (no electrical charge)
 Electron (negative charge)
Nucleus
Electron

4.  Carbon has unique properties that are
essential for life on earth.
 Familiar to us as:
1. the black substance in charred wood,
2. as diamonds,
3. and the graphite in ‘lead’ pencils,
 also

5.  carbon comes in several forms, or isotopes.
 One rare form has atoms that are 14 times as
heavy as hydrogen atoms:

6.  Carbon-14 is also referred to as:
 C-14
 Carbon-14
14
 C
 Radiocarbon
 Types of carbon (isotopes)
Atomic mass
9 14 16
6
C 6
C 6
C
Atomic number

7. Atomic Mass
 The atomic mass (ma) is the mass of
an atom at rest, most often expressed
in unified atomic mass units.
 The atomic mass may be considered
to be the total mass of protons,
neutrons and electrons in a single
atom (when the atom is motionless).

8. Atomic Number
 The atomic number (also known as the proton
number) is the number of protons found in the
nucleus of an atom.
 It is traditionally represented by the symbol
Z.
 The atomic number uniquely identifies a
chemical element.

9.  In an atom of neutral charge, the number of
electrons also equals the atomic number.
 The atomic number is closely related to the
mass number, which is the number of protons
and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
 The mass number defines the isotope of the
element and often comes after the name of the
element, e.g. carbon-14 (used in carbon
dating).

10. What is Radioactive Decay?
 The nucleus of an atom changes into a new
element
 The proton number (atomic number) must
change
 A neutron changes into a proton
14 14
6
C 7
N

11.  Carbon-14 is made when cosmic rays knock
neutrons out of atomic nuclei in the upper
atmosphere.
 These displaced neutrons, now moving fast, hit
ordinary nitrogen (14N) at lower altitudes,
converting it into 14C.
 Unlike common carbon (12C), 14C is unstable and
slowly decays, changing it back to nitrogen and
releasing energy.
 This instability makes it radioactive.

12.  Ordinary carbon (12C) is found in the carbon
dioxide (CO2) in the air, which is taken up by
plants, which in turn are eaten by animals.
 So a bone, or a leaf or a tree, or even a piece of
wooden furniture, contains carbon.
 When the 14C has been formed, like ordinary
carbon (12C), it combines with oxygen to give
carbon dioxide (14CO2), and so it also gets cycled
through the cells of plants and animals.

13. How C-14 is Produced
Cosmic Rays
(radiation)
Forms C-14 C-14 combines with
oxygen to form carbon
Collision with
atmosphere (N14) dioxide (CO2)

14.  We can take a sample of air, count how many
12C atoms there are for every 14C atom, and
calculate the 14C/12C ratio.
 Because 14C is so well mixed up with 12C,
we expect to find that this ratio is the same if
we sample a leaf from a tree, or a part of your
body.

15. How the Carbon Dating Clock
Works
 Once a plant or animal dies the clock starts
 The plant or animal no longer takes in C-14
 The C-14 present in the plant or animal begins
to decay
No more C- C-14 continues
14 intake to decay

16.  In living things, although 14C atoms are constantly
changing back to 14N, they are still exchanging
carbon with their surroundings, so the mixture
remains about the same as in the atmosphere.
 However, as soon as a plant or animal dies, the 14C
atoms which decay are no longer replaced, so the
amount of 14C in that once-living thing decreases
as time goes on.
 In other words, the 14C/12C ratio gets smaller.

17.  So, we have a ‘clock’ which starts ticking the
moment something dies.
 Obviously, this works only for things which
were once living.
 It cannot be used to date volcanic rocks, for
example.

18.  The rate of decay of 14C is such that half of
an amount will convert back to 14N in 5,730
years (plus or minus 40 years).
 This is the ‘half-life.’
 So, in two half-lives, or 11,460 years, only
one-quarter will be left.

19. Carbon-14 Life Cycle
Cosmic radiation
14 14 14
7
N 6
C 7
N
5,730 year half-life

20.  Thus, if the amount of 14C relative to 12C in a
sample is one-quarter of that in living organisms at
present, then it has a theoretical age of 11,460
years.
 Anything over about 50,000 years old, should
theoretically have no detectable 14C left.
 That is why radiocarbon dating cannot give
millions of years.
 In fact, if a sample contains 14C, it is good
evidence that it is not millions of years old.

21.  However, things are not quite so simple.
 First, plants discriminate against carbon
dioxide containing 14C.
 That is, they take up less than would be
expected and so they test older than they
really are.
 Furthermore, different types of plants
discriminate differently.
 This also has to be corrected for.

22.  Second, the ratio of 14C/12C in the atmosphere has
not been constant—for example, it was higher
before the industrial era when the massive burning
of fossil fuels released a lot of carbon dioxide that
was depleted in 14C.
 This would make things which died at that time
appear older in terms of carbon dating.
 Then there was a rise in 14CO2 with the advent of
atmospheric testing of atomic bombs in the 1950s.
 This would make things carbon-dated from that
time appear younger than their true age.

23.  Measurement of 14C in historically dated
objects (e.g., seeds in the graves of
historically dated tombs) enables the level of
14C in the atmosphere at that time to be
estimated, and so partial calibration of the
‘clock’ is possible.
 Accordingly, carbon dating carefully applied
to items from historical times can be useful.

24.  However, even with such historical
calibration, archaeologists do not regard 14C
dates as absolute because of frequent
anomalies.
 They rely more on dating methods that link
into historical records.
 Outside the range of recorded history,
calibration of the 14C clock is not possible.

25. Carbon-14 Dating
 Used only on organic material
 Cannot be used to date rocks
 Maximum age limit about 60,000
years

26. Quantity of C-14 in a Fossil
The C-14 dating method relies on measuring
the amount of C-14 in the fossil
 If there is a lot of C-14 remaining in the fossil,
we assume it has not been dead very long
 If there is very little C-14 remaining in the fossil
we assume most of it has decayed and the animal
lived a long time ago (i.e. 30,000 or more years)

27. What Do We Need to Know?
We need to know two things
1. How fast C-14 decays (measured in half-lives
- this is known: 5,730 years)
2. The starting amount of C-14 in the fossil
We know number 1
How can we know how much C-14 was in an
organism 5,000 years ago?

28. Calculating the Starting Amount
of C-14
 The dating method relies on measuring the
ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14 in the
sample
 The ratio today in the atmosphere is 1-
trillion to 1

29. Determining the Age from the C-
12/C-14 Ratio
Amount of Amount of Ratio Years # Half-lives
stable C-12 unstable C-14 Dead
100 Trillion 100 1-T to 1 0 0
100 Trillion 50 2-T to 1 5,730 1
100 Trillion 25 4-T to 1 11,460 2
100 Trillion 12.5 8-T to 1 17,190 3
100 Trillion 6 16-T to 1 22,920 4
100 Trillion 3 32-T to 1 28,650 5
Are there any assumptions in this process?

30. The Underlying Assumption
Has the ratio of C-12 to C-14 in the
atmosphere always been the same?
If YES, then the C-14 dating is valid for up to
60,000 years
If NO, then we have no valid way of knowing the
starting amount of C-14 and dates will be invalid
30,000 years to reach equilibrium

31. Dr. William Libby
Richard, Milton, Shattering the Myths of Darwinism,
1997, p. 32. (W. F. Libby, Radiocarbon Dating, 1955)
“He found a considerable discrepancy in his
measurements indicating that, apparently,
radiocarbon was being created in the
atmosphere somewhere around 25 percent faster
than it was becoming extinct. Since this result
was inexplicable by any conventional scientific
means, Libby put the discrepancy down to
experimental error.”

32. Experiments on Equilibrium
“During the 1960s, Libby’s experiments
were repeated by chemists… The new
experiments, though, revealed that the
discrepancy observed by Libby was not
merely an experimental error – it did exist.”
Richard, Milton, Shattering the Myths of Darwinism,
1997, p. 32.

33. Experiments on Equilibrium
Richard Lingenfelter, “Production of C-14 by cosmic
ray neutrons”, Review of Geophysics, 1963, p.51.
“There is strong indication, despite the
large errors, that the present natural
production rate exceeds the natural
decay rate by as much as 25 percent.”

34. New Techniques Show Young
Dates
Walter Brown (Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering and
Professor of Physics), In the Beginning, 2001, p. 245.
“The new atomic accelerator technique has
consistently detected at least small amounts of
carbon-14 in every specimen – even materials
that evolutionists claim are millions of years old,
such as coal…
In one study of eleven sets of ancient human
bones, all were dated at about 5,000 radiocarbon
years or less.”

35.  The amount of cosmic rays penetrating the
earth’s atmosphere affects the amount of 14C
produced and therefore dating the system.
 The amount of cosmic rays reaching the earth
varies with the sun’s activity, and with the
earth's passage through magnetic clouds as
the solar system travels around the Milky
Way galaxy.

36.  A stronger magnetic field deflects more
cosmic rays away from the earth.
 Overall, the energy of the earth’s magnetic
field has been decreasing, so more 14C is
being produced now, than in the past.
 This will make old things look older than they
really are.

37.  Also, the Genesis flood would have greatly upset the
carbon balance.
 The flood buried a huge amount of carbon, which became
coal, oil, etc., lowering the total 12C in the biosphere
(including the atmosphere—plants regrowing after the
flood absorb CO2, which is not replaced by the decay of
the buried vegetation).
 Total 14C is also proportionately lowered at this time, but
whereas no terrestrial process generates any more 12C,
14C is continually being produced, and at a rate which
does not depend on carbon levels (it comes from nitrogen).

38.  Therefore, the 14C/12C ratio in
plants/animals/the atmosphere before the
flood had to be lower than what it is now.
 Unless this effect (which is additional to the
magnetic field issue just discussed) were
corrected for, carbon dating of fossils formed
in the flood would give ages much older than
the true ages.

39. The key assumption has been shown to be false
(equilibrium)
Carbon-14 dating is a reliable dating method for less
than 3,000 years and not the claimed 60,000 found in
many textbooks
 Carbon-14 dating is based on an assumption

40. Radioisotope
Dating Methods
What are they and how do they operate?
What is the basic perception?
How accurate are they?
Are there any hidden assumptions?

41. Education
Biology: Visualizing Life, Holt, Rinehart,
Winston, 1998, p.177.
“Using radioactive dating, scientists
have determined that the Earth is about
4.5 billion years old, ancient enough for
all species to have been formed through
evolution.”

42. Education
National Association of Biology Teachers
(NABT), 1995 Position Statements.
“Radiometric and other dating
techniques, when used properly, are
highly accurate means of establishing
dates in the history of the planet and in
the history of life.”

43.  There are various other radiometric dating
methods used today to give ages of millions
or billions of years for rocks.
 These techniques, unlike carbon dating,
mostly use the relative concentrations of
parent and daughter products in radioactive
decay chains.

44. Understanding Assumptions
For example, potassium-40 decays to argon-40;
uranium-238 decays to lead-206 via other elements
like radium; uranium-235 decays to lead-207
Uranium Decay Lead
Potassium Decay Argon

45.  The isotope concentrations can be measured
very accurately, but isotope concentrations
are not dates.
 To derive ages from such measurements,
unprovable assumptions have to be made
such as:

46. 1. The starting conditions are known (for
example, that there was no daughter isotope
present at the start, or that we know how
much was there).
2. Decay rates have always been constant.
3. Systems were closed or isolated so that no
parent or daughter isotopes were lost or
added.

47.  These techniques are applied to igneous
rocks, and are normally seen as giving the
time since solidification.

48. Hour Glass Example

49. Hour Glass Example
Can you calculate how long you were outside?

50. Examples of Dating
 Sunset Crater, Northern Arizona
 Potassium-argon: 200,000+
 Reality: AD 1065
 Lava flows at Mt. Ngaurhoe, New Zealand
 Potassium-argon: 275,000
 Reality: 1949, 1954, 1975
 Hualalai basalt, Hawaii
 Potassium-argon: 1.4 – 22 million
 Reality: AD 1801
 Mt. Etna basalt, Sicily
 Potassium-argon: 140,000 – 350,000
 Reality: 1972

51. Examples of Dating
 Diamonds from Zaire: 6 billion years old!
 Mount St. Helens rocks 300,000 years old!

52. Assumptions and Dating
 Assumption of starting amounts of
elements
 Assumption of steady decay rate
 Assumption of a closed system
If you base your theory on a wrong
assumption, all your work can be correct, but
the result will be wrong.

53. Scientific Evidences for a Young
Earth
 Rapid disintegration of comets
 Sediment on the ocean floor
 Decay of the Earth’s magnetic field
 Carbon-14 ratio in the atmosphere
 Helium in the Earth’s atmosphere
 Radiohalos for polonium in granites
 Population statistics
 Recession of the moon

54. Views on Creation
 Literal 6-day creation
 Gap theory
 Day-Age Theory
 Progressive creation
Which one is correct?
How can we know?

55. Genesis Chapter 1
Charles Taylor (Ph.D. Linguistics/emphasis on Old
Testament Hebrew), “Linguistics, Genesis and
Evolution”, 1981.
“Contrary to what people think it’s not
impossible to know. Genesis chapter 1 was
written in the Hebrew language which is
consistent in using one structure for narrative
and quite a different one for poetry.”

56. The Creation Days
Are the days of creation literal days?
 Meaning of ‘Yom’
 Yom with a number
 Evening and morning
 Genesis 1:14
 Exodus 20:11
 Words used to indicate time
 Narrative versus poetry (VSO or SVO)
 In the beginning created God the heavens… = VSO
 Genealogies (Gen 5, 1Chron 1, Luke 3)

57. The Creation Days
Professor James Barr, Professor of Hebrew at the
University of Oxford.
“Probably so far as I know, there is no professor of
Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class
university who dares not believe that the writer(s)
of Gen. 1-11 intended to convey to their readers
the ideas that creation took place in a series of six
days which are the same as the days of 24 hours
we now experience…”

58. The Creation Days
Dr. Robert Cole (Ph.D. Semitic Languages), “A PhD
looks at the Genesis Days”
“There is nothing in the Bible to obviate the
idea that the days in Genesis were 24 hour
type days.”

59. Language and the Meaning of
Day
Charles Taylor (Ph.D. Linguistics/emphasis on Old
Testament Hebrew), “Linguistics, Genesis and
Evolution”, 1981
“A very important point that most people
overlook when it comes to word use, is that it is
impossible to use a word as a symbol or
figuratively unless it already has a literal
meaning.
The word ‘day’ cannot, in Hebrew or English, be
used in the abstract of symbolic sense unless it
already has a clearly understood literal
meaning.”

60. The Creation Days
“It is a fact that before the modern era,
nobody in the history of the church for over
three thousand years ever questioned the
chronology of the Bible, and only a tiny
handful ever questioned that the six days of
Genesis 1 were ordinary 24-hour-type days.”
James B. Jordan (D. Litt), Creation in Six
Days, p. 17.

61. Biblical Implications of an Old Earth
 Genesis chapter 1 requires scientific
information to interpret
 There was death before sin
 The Genesis Flood was NOT a worldwide
flood
 What does God’s “very good” mean in
Genesis 1:31?

62.  It is not a Salvation issue, but…
 Authority of God’s Word … Jesus is the Creator
 Do we need the Old Testament?
 Creation is the foundation for the Gospel
 Why did Jesus die on the cross?
 What is happening in schools today?
 Attacks on the Bible
 Lack of respect by Christians for the Bible
 Evolution is being taught as a fact
 Evolution means materialism (No Creator)
 Evolution started in the Garden of Eden

63. Creation is the Foundation
Chuck Colson, How Now Shall We Live, 1999, p. 100.
“Creation is the first element of the Christian
worldview, the foundation on which
everything else is built. It is the basis of
human dignity, for our origin tells us who we
are, why we are here, and how we should
treat one another.”

64. Who Believes in a Six-Day Creation
 Kurt Wise Ph.D. Paleontology
 Steven A. Austin Ph.D. Geology
 John Morris Ph.D. Geology
 Elaine Kennedy Ph.D. Geology
 Donald B. DeYoung Ph.D. Physics
 Walter Brown Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering
 Russell Humphreys Ph.D. Physics
 Keith Wanser Ph.D. Condensed Matter Physics
 Danny R. Faulkner Ph.D. Astronomy
 Duane T. Gish Ph.D. Biochemistry
 Ross S. Anderson Ph.D. Biochemistry
 Lane P. Lester Ph.D. Genetics
 Linda K. Walkup Ph.D. Molecular Genetics
 Ray Bohlin Ph.D. Molecular Biology
 Gary E. Parker Ph.D. Biology
 Jonathan Sarfati Ph.D. Physical Chemistry
 Charles Taylor Ph.D. Linguistics (O.T.)
 Robert Cole Ph.D. Semitic Languages
 Steven Boyd Ph.D Hebraic and Cognitive Studies
 Drs. John MacArthur, James Kennedy, David Jeremiah, Tim LaHaye

65. Belief in a Young Earth
Dr. Keith Wanser (Ph.D. Condensed Matter Physics),
Creation ex nihilo, 1999, p. 39. (Dr. Wanser works with
theoretical condensed matter physics and basic theories of
matter)
“I am convinced there is far more
evidence for a recent, six-day creation and
a global Flood than there is for an old
earth and evolution.”

66. Psalm 118:8
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put
confidence in man
John 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth