James
I just did a search of the 1967 evolution book and i couldn't find the word dinosaur used in it, anywhere. It said that potasium argon method was used for older stuff. But, nothing about dinosaurs. Kinda funny.
S
New calibration method for radiocarbon dating
by konceptual99 26 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Leolaia
Looking at the new calibration curve, it is not very useful for dates in the historical period; it is too smooth in the short-term and does not match the known wiggles. It very closely fits the standard curve in the long-term and its value is in adding another dataset to improve the calibration for dates beyond 15kya, where there is much more variability in the data.
Contamination is something that always needs to be reckoned with. It is unlikely that contamination would produce a better, more consistent fit between unrelated independent sources of data; a broad skewing usually brings a dataset out of harmony with the others, and outliers otherwise caused by contamination are minimized through sample replication from multiple sample points.
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moshe
Yes, I believe that most errors would skew towards a false younger age- especially if contaminated with trace amounts of C14 from the present.
I was most interested in this book, because they studied preserved pollen grains from sediment cores to determine the plant types that were growing , which then showed when the glaciers first melted, exposing new soil to pioneer plants and then as it got warmer, trees moved in. You can tell a lot about the climate from pollen.
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james_woods
Just to make a fine point here - we all do understand that the C-14 atoms are not really "old" or "young" in the sense of having a measurable age, right?
They are radioactive - when they decay, they are no longer C-14. They are transformed into other forms of matter and radiation.
They have a "half-life", but this is not a fixed time like a clock...it is statistical. Two atoms of C-14 which are the same age chronologically could age radiologically at radically different times. However, statistically a great mass of C-14 will be half decayed at the half life, another half of what is left at the next half life, and so on.
Carbon dating works by comparing the amount of C-14 to the stable forms of carbon left in the sample:
Carbon has two stable, nonradioactive isotopes: carbon-12 ( 12 C ), and carbon-13 ( 13 C ). In addition, there are trace amounts of the unstable isotope carbon-14 ( 14 C ) on Earth. Carbon-14 has a relatively short half-life of 5,730 years, meaning that the amount of carbon-14 in a sample is halved over the course of 5,730 years due to radioactive decay. Carbon-14 would have long ago vanished from Earth were it not for the unremitting cosmic ray flux interactions with the Earth's atmosphere, which create more of the isotope.
The main point here of interest to JWs or ex-JWs is that nothing about this C-14 dating process is in serious scientific doubt - and many measurements have been made which puts the idea that all human life on earth is not older than 6,000 years into the realm of the absurd.
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botchtowersociety
Great explanation, JWoods.
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moshe
of course J-W we know that, ie, samples with very little radioactive C14, are older samples, so saying old C14 is just shortcut terminology for laymen.
I had to take a radiation worker test in January after being out of the Nuclear industry over 20 years- did the computer course and scored 100% on the exam- looking back, I could have joined the Navy out of highschool and went to nuclear school. Counselors never encouraged us to look at the military back in the 60's-
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james_woods
Right, Moshe - I just wanted to post for the record. So nobody could say that apostates are idiots.
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konceptual99
Agreed, of course the isotopes are not old or young but the ratios to the other isotopes will skew results. I've not seen the curve so it's interesting to hear that it's really going to benefit older dates. The reality is that trying to argue the carbon dating method is unreliable for things like suggested dates of tens of thousands of years for items such as human remains has no base in well establish science.
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nicolaou
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/scia
18 Oct 12: Planet Hunters
Thu, 18 Oct 12
Duration:
18 mins
Available:
30 days remainingPlanet Hunters; Radiocarbon dating; Baboons
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