It seems to be that fossil dating is commonly misunderstood, despite the fact that science and evolution are actually taught in school (I cannot imagine what it would be like with Intelligent Design taught in school… like the Dark Ages I'd imagine). Maybe it's that creationists refuse to accept evolution, and refuse to learn about it. It seems that many of them read only about their side of the story (a.k.a. the Bible) but don't read about what's on the other side of the fence. They will ask things like "How do you know something is 1 million years old if you don't know anybody who is that old?"
Carbon-14 dating is based on radioactive decay. The air, plants, and all livings animals (including humans) all have the same constant ratio of standard Carbon-12 to Carbon-14 at any given time, while they are alive. Since Carbon-14 is radioactive, over time it will decay into nothing. It's the ration between the constant Carbon-12, and the decaying Carbon-14, that we can tell its age from. Since the half-life of Carbon-14 is 5,700 years, there will only be half the amount of that particular sample in every 5,700-year cycle. The ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14 at the moment of death is the same as every other living thing, but the carbon-14 decays and is not replaced. And when you look at the ratio of standard carbon-12 to carbon-14 in the sample, it is possible to determine the age (within 60,000 years) of anything that was once living. precisely. Because the half-life of carbon-14 is 5,700 years, 60,000 years IS about as accurate it can get. However, the principle of carbon-14 dating applies to other isotopes as well, that all have their own ranges, both short and long.
Potassium-40 is another radioactive element that is commonly found in living beings and has a half-life of 1.3 billion years. Other radioisotopes for radioactive dating are Uranium -235 (half-life = 704 million years), Uranium -238 (half-life = 4.5 billion years), Thorium-232 (half-life = 14 billion years) and Rubidium-87 (half-life = 49 billion years). So clearly, an age can be precisely determined for just about anything. This method cannot be used on fossils however, since they lack the radioactive isotopes used in the dating process. To determine a fossil's age, igneous layers (volcanic rock) beneath the fossil (predating the fossil) and above it (representing a time after the dinosaur's existence) are dated, resulting in a time-range for the dinosaur's life. Thus, dinosaurs are dated with respect to volcanic eruptions.
I find it strange when one argues relentlessly against dating methods, despite the mounting evidence, yet they can read "There was a great flood" out of the Bible, and immediately believe it, with no evidence what so ever.
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