Re: Carbon-14 fallacy in dating


"eyelessgame" <aamp@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1138927767.074272.268620@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Craig A. Feinstein wrote:
eyelessgame wrote:

Did you miss Harshman's response? C14 dates are cross-checked against
other dating methods; that's how we gauge its reliability (and how
we've calibrated it, since raw C14 dates assuming constant amounts of
C14 are not reliable anyway, and scientists know that):

Yes, I missed that response. He disagrees with Rabbi Miller's logic. He
said,

"Why did it start with no C-14, when it had, apparently, lots of all
manner of other radiogenic isotopes with much longer half-lives?"

But I still don't see how it refutes his logic here:

"But the earth is not very old, only 5,766 years old as of today, so it
started out without C-14 isotopes (which everyone admits is the result
of cosmic-ray action.) Therefore, it took time to build up enough C-14
to establish the present ratio. The earth's supply of C-14 has
increased steadily in 5766 years"

That's not all he said. John also said:

"C-14 dating is calibrated using tree-ring dates back to over 8,000
years. The amount has fluctuated slightly over time, but up and down,
not continuously up, and the necessary correction amounts to only a few
percent. C-14 dates also match dates assigned by other radiometric
methods."

*That* -- the final sentence -- is the refutation of the rabbi's
argument. It demonstrates that the earth's supply of C-14 has not, in
fact, "increased steadily in [the last] 5766 years". We know this
because we can cross-check C14 measurements against other dating
methods -- if C14 were steadily increasing, the C14 numbers would not
match other dating methods (including, for example, human-recorded
history). But they do match, therefore C14 has not been steadily
increasing. I understand if you missed this on first reading. But now,
having read it again, you ought to understand why this refutes the
rabbi directly.

Also -- independent of this -- John asks: if the earth were created
with the appearance of age (by creating long-lived, but no short-lived,
isotopes in the earth's crust, specifically in amounts that support an
age of 4.55 billion years), why was this appearance of age then made
deliberately imperfect (by choosing not to create C14 isotopes already
existing in the atmosphere)? I would like to hear how you respond to
that as well.

eyelessgame


It seems like such lunacy to even be discussing Carbon-14 dating with
respect to the age of the Earth.

If Craig and the Rabbi has issues with it, I would love to hear from them on
the U-235/Pb-207, K-40/Ar-40, U-238/Pb-206, or Rb-87/Sr-87 methods used for
dating rocks.

He obviously has no idea how the scientific process works, and doesn't
realize that his heckling does nothing to detract from the process unless he
himself can show reason that is contray to the current body of knowledge.

I hope he didn't pay for his education. If he did, he should ask for his
money back.





.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Carbon-14 fallacy in dating
    ... other dating methods; that's how we gauge its reliability (and how ... C14 are not reliable anyway, ... "Why did it start with no C-14, when it had, apparently, lots of all ... and the necessary correction amounts to only a few ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Carbon-14 fallacy in dating
    ... Nitrogen 14 and Carbon 12 in the atmosphere. ... constant ratio of C-14 and C-12 is established in the lifetime of each ... C14 falls exponentially once the organism dies, ... has the same amount of C14 remaining as the 1001st tree ring of tree B, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Carbon-14 fallacy in dating
    ... Nitrogen 14 and Carbon 12 in the atmosphere. ... constant ratio of C-14 and C-12 is established in the lifetime of each ... C14 falls exponentially once the organism dies, ... has the same amount of C14 remaining as the 1001st tree ring of tree B, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Where is vowel boy? Re: Still no takers for the critique
    ...  research paper in the area of C14 dating or dendrochronology. ... atmospheric levels of C14. ... Why would good data about levels of C14 in the atmosphere at ... various locations and times in the earth's history be a desiderata for ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Carbon-14 fallacy in dating
    ... Nitrogen 14 and Carbon 12 in the atmosphere. ... constant ratio of C-14 and C-12 is established in the lifetime of each ... C14 falls exponentially once the organism dies, ... has the same amount of C14 remaining as the 1001st tree ring of tree B, ...
    (talk.origins)