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To: Liberty1970

Then the fact that new C-14 is being created makes the argument that the existence of C-14 is evidence of a young earth rather tenuous. There will always be C-14, no matter how old it is.


120 posted on 03/19/2009 7:25:03 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: tacticalogic
Then the fact that new C-14 is being created makes the argument that the existence of C-14 is evidence of a young earth rather tenuous. There will always be C-14, no matter how old it is.

Please re-read my explanation. For C-14 dating to work at all, exchange of carbon with the outside environment in a given sample (such as a chunk of wood) has to stop. That's what happens when an organic sample is dead and buried. So long as carbon exchange is occuring then the 'clock' for dating hasn't started, and the sample can't be correctly dated.

C-14 is produced by cosmic rays impacting N-14 in the upper atmosphere. It is not being produced underground*. So buried samples that have measurable C-14 must have been buried within a thousands-of-years timeframe (as measured by the C-14 remaining), not millions.

*(When this began to become public, some people suggested C-14 could be produced in situ in the geologic record due to uranium decay, but it was investigated and found to be an unworkable solution because the method only produced infinitisemal amounts of C-14. The sample would have to be over 90% uranium to produce the measured amounts of C-14, and as one scientist drily noted, "You wouldn't ordinarily call such a sample 'coal.'")

123 posted on 03/19/2009 9:08:03 AM PDT by Liberty1970 (Democrats are not in control. God is. And Thank God for that!)
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