Good challenge to the reliability of radiometric dating methods

books:

	• Thousands not Billions: Challenging the Icon of Evolution, Questioning the Age of the Earth Donald DeYoung Master Books, 2005 - 190 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good challenge to the reliability of radiometric dating methods

So, let me just start off by saying the following:

1. Young-earth creationists will like this book and think that it shows the unreliability of modern dating methods.
2. Evolutionists will dismiss it immediately.
3. Open-minded people who are perhaps on the fence on the issue of the earth's age will benefit from the point of view and the challenges the RATE group's 8 years of research present.

It is clear that the reviews so far of 'Thousands not Billions' support my hypothesis.

Now, on to the book.
Here's a list of the chapters:

Ch 1: A Brief History of Radiation Studies
Ch 2: Overview of Radioisotope Dating
Ch 3: Carbon-14 Dating
Ch 4: Helium Retention in Zircon Crystals
Ch 5: Radiohalos in Granite
Ch 6: Fission Tracks in Zircons
Ch 7: Discordant Radioisotope Dates
Ch 8: Radioisotope Dating Case Studies
Ch 9: Theories of Accelerated Nuclear Decay
Ch 10: A Proper Reading of Genesis 1:1-2:3
Ch 11: RATE Conclusions

Quotes from Ch 11, with summaries by me:

"For some years there has been a growing realization that carbon-14 atoms are found where they are not expected." -Pg 175
Since C-14 only has a half-life of 5,730 years, there should not be any measurable amount of it in substances over 100,000 years old. However, measurable amounts of C-14 have been found in what are assumed "ancient" materials, such as coal and diamonds. Diamonds I think are the most significant, since they are assumed to be like a billion years old, and they are also the hardest natural substance on earth, so they know there isn't any contamination in the system. So the fact that there exists carbon-14 in diamonds that are supposedly a billion years old should raise some flags to people.

"The New Mexico zircons studied by the RATE team have a radioisotope age of 1.5 billion years. If this were true, then the internal helium atoms should long ago have escaped from the zircons. Instead, however, the RATE scientists and others find high concentrations of helium still present inside the zircon crystals." -Pg 176
Zircons, unlike diamonds, are not a closed system, and helium atoms that are produced in the zircons escape over time into the surroundings. However, the helium should no longer be present if the zircons are really a billion years old or older.

Another important aspect of the RATE research is the discordance among results when multiple dating methods are used on the same rock. Several different dating methods should all give the same date for a specific rock if they really are accurate measures. However, RATE has found that very different dates are given for a rock, depending on which method is used.

Another thing that's really interesting is that RATE team had the Mt. Ngauruhoe site in New Zealand dated using several different dating techniques. The site formed only a few decades ago, but dates ranging from 0.27 million years (K-Ar) all the way up to 3,908 million years (Pb-Pb) were determined for the rock. This should also show the amazing unreliability of radiometric dating methods. If dating methods are shown to be grossly inaccurate for rocks of known age, how can we trust them for rocks of unknown age?

I also really liked the chapter on interpreting the creation account of Genesis 1:1-2:3. It is a popular view among Christians that the creation account is poetry and not narrative. RATE did some analysis of the Hebrew verb forms of both poetry and narrative all throughout the Old Testament, and the results were overwhelmingly in favor of Genesis 1 being narrative, based on the type of verb forms found in the chapter. (Poetry generally uses imperfect, while narrative uses preterit.)

Anyway, I would have liked to see a little more explanation/elaboration of research. But I do realize that this book is meant to be for the general public. RATE has produced two technical volumes from their 8 years of research that I think people who are advanced in science will benefit from more.

Note: I think it's worth noting that the RATE team contracted out the dating of the materials in their research to well-respected professional laboratories, so the idea that their data is not reliable is totally ridiculous and unfounded.

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Science has been lying to us.

A detailed account of the many, flawed methods of scientific measurement for the purposes of identifying age. The field of science, along with all others, is also at the mercy of pre-conceived theories, theologies and world views. This book will allow you to ponder and weigh all our so-called scientific evidence for millions and billions of earth age, after carefully detailing the assumptions, statistical manipulations and flaws found in all our dating methods. The evidence does not uniformly point to an old earth, unless you have such an preconceived notion.

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Faith & Worldview...

The chief complaint against this book seems to be "...This book is another example of TRUE scientific theory mixed with UNTESTED hypothetical ideas (somewhat like "bait and switch"). The end result is that the author claims to prove his ideas when in fact the untested hypotheses are still untested."

I would say the same for evolutionary theory since TRUE SCIENTIFIC METHODS CANNOT BE APPLIED IN BOTH CASES. No human being was there during creation or evolutionary beginnings to observe the actual event, so we cannot test and observe either hypothesis. To me, the biggest issue here is not which is the more accurate theory. But rather, both positions cannot be solved scientifically and that it takes a measure of FAITH & a healthy dose of WORLDVIEW to believe which ever side you believe. The author of this book casts significant doubt on the VALIDITY of old earth age radioisotope dating methods which he purports to be the "lynchpin" of old earth views.

* The RATE Project tested coal beds throughout North America. They requested & received coal samples from the US Geological Dept. They received coal from the top of the coal bed and the bottom of the coal bed over many sites. You know what they found? The coal samples had the "same" (same within the sample statistics) C14 levels whether it was on the top or bottom.
* Also, they tested diamonds from nearly 100 miles within the earth. And you know what? They also had C14 in them. Diamonds are supposed to be billions of years old, one of the first minerals formed when the earth "evolved" 3.5 billion years ago; yet they have C14 in them. We have NO instrument that can measure C14 levels past 100,000 years.
* They observed that most of known fossils are found within one layer of sediment (which implies a quick, catastrophic event, a.k.a. flood)
* They discuss helium diffusion within zircons. These zircons mean something very important to geologists. And I admit, this was a little over my head since I have not taken the time to study these. But suffice it to say, the amount of helium still in rocks indicates a "younger" earth.
* They discuss all the forms of radioisotope dating and show how worldview "taints" the "scientific" principles that govern them. Also, many assume a steady state of radioactive decay, however, there is compelling evidence that shows the steady state theory is not accurate. That there may have been accelerated decay in the past and it has been slowing down (which I think aligns nicely to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics).

To me, these are the most important issues this book addresses.

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These scientists provide evidence in real test results

I've read thousands of books to try to keep up to date - and this book has got to be one of my favorite books of all. The book summarizes eight years of research by a team of scientists. Not only does the book provide the results of radioisotope dating tests, but it explains the process as well as what the results mean. This book found the perfect balance to being readable yet precise and detailed. It also refers the readers to two other books that are much more detailed regarding the radioisotope dating discused in the book.

The book explains about some of the radioisotope methods in use, such as:

* Carbon-14 dating
* Potassium-Argon
* Rubidium-Strontium
* Lead-Lead
* Samarium-Neodymium

The book also explains both alpha decay and beta decay, and why it matters.

This team of scientists not only reference published dating test results but also did their own dating tests utilizing multiple state-of-the-art commercial radioisotope dating laboratories.

The book also explains a vitally important concept: Iscochrons
(Isochrons are utilized today in almost every radioisotope dating experiment)

Ini order to give an age estimate for a rock using radioisotope dating, there are several assumptions that are made ... three fundamental assumptions are:

1) the initial conditions of the sample are known accurately
2) we can tell whether or not the rock has exchanged atoms with the surroundings during its history
3) the nuclear decay rate or half-life of the parent isotope has remained constant since the rock was formed. (isochron methods are not sensitive to testing the correctness of this assumption)

The book presents the evidence of the results of careful testing that you can analyze on your own. However, the team of scientists also provide their summary of what the results show and provide possible explanations as to what they mean and what could account for the evidence.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in finding out just how radioisotope dating is done and in reviewing evidence from a variety of tests performed recently. It provides scientific evidence gathered by a team of scientists presented in an easy to read format with tables, charts and figures.

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reviews: page 1, 2

? Destroys one of the major barriers for faith seekers: alleged long ages for the earth ? Provides scientifi c evidences that correlate to biblical history and time-lines ? Can be used as an apologetic; many shun the faith because of alleged scientifi c ?facts? ? A sensational answer to ?old earth? critics ? A powerful book written in plain language This long-awaited book shatters the famed dating methods employed by evolutionists to cast doubt on the veracity of the Bible and its chronology of earth history. Radiometric dating is one of the linchpins of evolutionary education today. By dating the soil in which fossils are found to very long ages, evolutionists undermine faith in Genesis as the true documentary of the history of the universe. When people are told that a dinosaur bone has been determined to be tens of millions of years old, that obviously doesn?t square with the biblical record of man being created on day 6 with the land animals. But DeYoung now demonstrates that Christians no longer have to puzzle over this glaring contradiction. A must-have for the serious Bible student, Thousands . . . not Billions will bolster the faith of many.

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