Actually, I have a PhD in the life sciences. In the course of getting that PhD, I had to learn the physics of radioisotopes and how to use them for scientific measurements. Radioisotopic measurements are among the most precise and accurate forms of measurement there are, because the rate of radioisotopic decay remains constant over time, and the decay process is invariable. For instance, sulfur 35 *always* decays through emission of a beta particle and becomes chlorine.
I seriously doubt that the M. Min who wrote this blog piece has ever stepped foot in a science class (other than sitting through the obligatory introduction to science course required as part of general education). He (she?) is certainly no expert on science.
OkY, FOR EXAMPLE:
No geologists were present when most rocks formed, so they cannot test whether the original rocks already contained daughter isotopes alongside their parent radioisotopes. For example, with regard to the volcanic lavas that erupted, flowed, and cooled to form rocks in the unobserved past, evolutionary geologists simply assume that none of the daughter argon-40 atoms was in the lava rocks.
For the other radioactive clocks, it is assumed that by analyzing multiple samples of a rock body, or unit, today it is possible to determine how much of the daughter isotopes (lead, strontium, or neodymium) were present when the rock formed (via the so-called isochron technique, which is still based on unproven assumptions).
Yet lava flows that have occurred in the present have been tested soon after they erupted, and they invariably contained much more argon-40 than expected.1 For example, when a sample of the lava in the Mt. St. Helens crater (that had been observed to form and cool in 1986) was analyzed in 1996, it contained so much argon-40 that it had a calculated age of 350,000 years!2 Similarly, lava flows on the sides of Mt. Ngauruhoe, New Zealand, known to be less than 50 years old, yielded ages of up to 3.5 million years.
The problems with contamination, as with inheritance, are already well-documented in the textbooks on radioactive dating of rocks.* Unlike the hourglass, where its two bowls are sealed, the radioactive clock in rocks is open to contamination by gain or loss of parent or daughter isotopes because of waters flowing in the ground from rainfall and from the molten rocks beneath volcanoes. Similarly, as molten lava rises through a conduit from deep inside the earth to be erupted through a volcano, pieces of the conduit wallrocks and their isotopes can mix into the lava and contaminate it.
Because of such contamination, the less than 50-year-old lava flows at Mt. Ngauruhoe, New Zealand (Figure 4), yield a rubidium-strontium age of 133 million years, a samarium-neodymium age of 197 million years, and a uranium-lead age of 3.908 billion years!
REF: .A. A. Snelling, The Relevance of Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd and Pb-Pb Isotope Systematics to Elucidation of the Genesis and History of Recent Andesite Flows at Mt. Ngauruhoe, New Zealand, and the Implications for Radioisotopic Dating, in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, ed. R. L. Ivey, Jr. (Pittsburgh: Creation Science Fellowship, 2003), pp. 285303; Ref. 4, 2005.
G. Faure and T. M. Mensing, Isotopes: Principles and Applications, 3rd ed. (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2005); A. P. Dickin, Radiogenic Isotope Geology, 2nd ed. (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
.A. A. Snelling, The Cause of Anomalous Potassium-Argon Ages for Recent Andesite Flows at Mt. Ngauruhoe, New Zealand, and the Implications for Potassium-Argon Dating, in Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Creationism, ed. R. E. Walsh (Pittsburgh: Creation Science Fellowship, 1998), pp. 503525
Your problem appears to be simple - pride. You believe only the way your authority figures dictate [in order to get your PhD but what about other PhDs - do all simply agree?] therefore all creation science must be bad, yet you still try to defend the Christian faith. Choose ye this day who ye will serve - mankind or God!
Testimonies of Scientists Who Believe the Bible
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2761001/posts
Eric Lyons:
Eric Lyons is a graduate of Freed-Hardeman University, where he earned a B.S. with a double major in Bible and history, and an M.Min (and what exactly is an M.Min Master of Ministry, Master of Muddled thinking?). Eric, his wife Jana, and their three children (Bo, Micah, and Shelby) live and worship in Wetumpka, Alabama, where Eric works with the youth of the Wetumpka church of Christ. Eric currently serves as a member of the Bible Department at Apologetics Press, where he has worked for the past 12 years.
Eric has authored or co-authored a number of books, including The Anvil Rings: Answers to Alleged Bible Discrepancies (Volumes 1 & 2), Behold! The Lamb of God, Truth Be Told, and Wonders of God's Creation. In addition, he writes weekly for the Apologetics Press Web site, is editor of the Explorer Series (sp?), and assistant editor of Discovery, the monthly magazine on Scripture and science for children published by Apologetics Press. Eric speaks frequently at youth rallies, Gospel meetings, and seminars around the country, and specializes in presenting seminars on the following topics
Eric is also the author of this very scientific blog post - Have Dinosaur and Human Fossils Been Found Together?
Surly Eric knows more about science than you do! ;) ,
One question: Has anyone ever determined what effect, if any, pressure and heat have on the decay rate of isotopes? Rock buried under tons of other rock is going to endure great pressure and very high temperatures.