[Da_Shrimp]

"half-life" of planetary bodies.

Is this an ironic term or is it real?

If the latter, please explain, as I've never heard of it.

[Gargantua]

Actually, it refers to the Earth's decaying magnetic field, and the fact that this points to an Earth roughly 10,000 years old.

Copy and paste this URL into your Address bar; I don't know how to post links:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/3317.asp

Scientists are just people, and they tend to discard as irrelevant any "test" results or "control anomalies" which do not comport with their pre-formed conclusions. In fact, if one has a hand in assembling the data, a "scientific" projection can take any curve you like.

[Gargantua]

And if that doesn't answer your question, read this:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2001/0321acc_beta_decay.asp

[alaskanfan]

This site has a good discussion of some methods of determining the age of the Earth.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-age-of-earth.html