Teaching Creation Part 6
Is There Any Justification For Teaching Evolution In School?
Part 6
measured. By calculating the sum of lead in the object with the rate of how fast uranium decays, the calculated length of time that the uranium has been decaying becomes the apparent age of the object.
This system of dating seems as though it well supports an old Earth since by using it dates ranging in the billions of year have been yielded. The only trouble is that whether or not the apparent age is really the true age of an object depends completely on the validity of the assumptions necessary to complete the calculations. This chronometer is based upon uniformitarianism, and the following assumption are made in order to complete the calculations:
1 *The system must have always been a closed system*.
That is, it cannot have ever been altered by anything outside the system, nothing could be removed, and nothing could have been added to it.
2. *The system must have initially contained none of its daughter
component*.
If any of the daughter component was initially present in the system, that amount must be considered.
3. *The process rate must always have been the same*.
If the process of decay has ever changed, more rapid, or less rapid, that must be considered also (138).
Not one of these assumptions are valid! Thus, an apparent age is only an “educated guesses and may well be completely unrelated to the true age” (139). When considering the assumptions connected to radiometric dating, one might think that the scientist might just as well pick the age he wants and modify the assumptions until the apparent age agrees with his wishes. In effect, this is precisely what he does when he arbitrarily rejects all calculations which yield a young age for the earth and all of its systems (*Case* 49).
There are many processes that yield a young age when using these same assumptions. For example, when uranium decays, it produces a gas called Argon 4. By measuring the amount of Argon that escapes into the atmosphere each year, the apparent age of the atmosphere can be calculated. The answer to this equation reduces the age of the atmosphere down to only several thousand years (Cook 213).
The same can be done by measuring the amount of materials that flow into the ocean each year. When the quantity of a particular material in the ocean is know, the amount of that material flowing into the ocean each year can be multiplied until the present sum is reached. The following are typical results: Chemical Years to Accumulate in Ocean Element from River Inflow _________________________________________________________ Nickel 18,000 Lead 2,000 Gold 560,000 Mercury 42,000 Copper 50,000