CCHEA Creation Seminar 01/17/08

CCHEA Creation Seminar 01/17/08 Presented by David A. Prentice, M.Ed., M.A.S.T. www.originsresource.org prentice@instruction.com Background graphic courtesy of Mike Riddle, Answers in Genesis Contains photos taken by the author at various locations, and other pictures as noted

PART 3: Does it Really Matter Whether the Earth is Old or Young?

WHAT MOST PEOPLE THINK: Evolution is science... Creation is religion.

Historical Ideas About the Age of the Earth Ancient Greeks such as Aristotle: Earth is extremely old, may have existed forever. Genesis: Earth is young. 1200s - Thomas Aquinas reverts to Aristotelian logic and old earth. 1700s - Buffon proposes days of Genesis as extended periods of time. Cuvier proposes multiple global catastrophes over millions of years. Hutton rejects catastrophes, proposes uniformitarianism. 1800s - Lyell expands on Hutton’s ideas, says earth millions of years old. Darwin builds his theory on Hutton’s and Lyell’s ideas about uniformitarianism. 1900s – Radioactivity discovered, age of earth revised to billions of years.

HOW LONG ARE THE “Days” in Genesis? The Hebrew word for “day” is (YOM). Depending on context, it can mean 1. A 24 hour day, 2. The daylight portion of a day, or 3. An indefinite period of time. Every time throughout the Old Testament that is used with a number (over 350 times outside Genesis Chapter 1) it always means a 24 hour day. This is the way it appears in the Creation account. God obviously intended to say that these were 24 hour days.

All Scripture is inspired by God... but this Scripture was written with His own finger. For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is]... (Exod. 20:11)

COULD THE “DAYS” HAVE BEEN MILLIONS OF YEARS? The sequence of events in Genesis 1: Day 3, plants created. Day 4, sun created. Day 5, insects created. How many million years can most plants live without sunlight? How many million years can they live without insects to pollinate them?

MARTIN LUTHER ON THE AGE OF THE EARTH “When Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days, then let this period continue to have been six days, and do not venture to devise any comment according to which six days were one day. “But, if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned that you are.”

YEARS SINCE CREATION (Massoretic Text) 0 500 1000 1500 2000 1656 ADAM - 930 years ------------------------------------ SETH - 912 yrs ----------------------------- d. 1042 ENOSH - 905 yrs -------------------------- d. 1140 KENAN - 910 yrs -------------------------- d. 1235 MAHALALEL - 895 yrs ----------------- d. 1290 JARED - 962 yrs --------------------------------- d. 1422 ENOCH, 365 yrs (walked with God) METHUSALEH --------------- 969 yrs, d. 1656 LAMECH - 777 yrs --------------- d. 1652 NOAH - 950 yrs ------------------------------- d. 2006 Earth divided THE FLOOD Death of Noah Tower of Babel (between 1757 and 1996) SHEM - 600 yrs -------- d. 2157 Arpachshad, 438 --- d. 2096 Shelah, 433 -- d. 2126 Eber, 464 ------ d. 2187 Peleg, 239 -- d. 1996 Reu, 239 ----- d. 2026 Serug, 230 - d. 2049 Nahor-- 147, d. 1997 Terah ----- 205, d. 2082 Abraham- 195, d. 2122 Isaac ---- 180, d. 2227 Jacob- 149, d. 2254 Death of Adam

New Testament Clues for a Young Earth “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female” (Mk. 10:6). He didn’t say “In the last 1/1000 of 1% of earth’s history.” “For [in] those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be” (Mk. 13:19). Evolutionists say mass extinctions have wiped out over 99% of all the species that have ever lived. Wouldn’t that be the worst affliction? “... he [the devil] was a murderer from the beginning...” (Jn. 8:44) Not just during last 1/1000 of 1% of earth’s history. “... the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly [places] might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God...” (Eph. 3:10). Did God have to wait through 4.5 billion years of evolution before He could accomplish His purposes through the Church? J E S U S P A U L

Compare this to The Evolutionary Time Scale. ERA PERIOD EPOCH Appr. Beginning (Years Ago) Cenozoic Quaternary Holocene (Recent) 10,000 Pleistocene 1.8 million Tertiary Pliocene 5.3 million Miocene 23.8 million Oligocene 33.7 million Eocene 54.8 million Paleocene 65 million Mesozoic Cretaceous 144 million Jurassic 206 million Triassic 248 million Paleozoic Permian 290 million Pennsylvanian 323 million } CARBON- Mississippian 354 million } IFEROUS Devonian 417 million Silurian 443 million Ordovician 490 million Cambrian 543 million Archaeozoic Precambrian 4.5 billion (incl. Ediacaran or Vendian, 650 million) Source: Univ. of Calif. Museum of Paleontology

REASONS PEOPLE BELIEVE THE EARTH IS OLD: • Belief that it takes millions of years to form a fossil. • 2. Radiometric dating. • 3. Geologic features (separation of con-tinents, Grand Canyon, etc.) that are supposed to have taken millions of years to form.

IF THERE WAS A WORLDWIDE FLOOD, WHAT WOULD WE EXPECT TO FIND? Billions and billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the whole earth, even on top of the highest mountains. WHAT DO WE ACTUALLY FIND? Billions and billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the whole earth, even on top of the highest mountains!

HOW DO YOU MAKE A FOSSIL? 1. Bury something quickly so it doesn’t rot. 2. Make sure the right kind of minerals are in the mud or water. 3. Apply lots of heat and pressure. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE? CHICKEN BONES: ? OIL: ?

You may have heard that it takes millions of years to make a fossil. Wrong! • Chicken bones have been turned into mineralized fossils in laboratories in 5 to 10 years. • Organic garbage (banana peels, etc.) has been turned into crude oil, otherwise known as “fossil fuel,” in as little as 20 minutes. • Spark plugs are often used as fishing sinkers in Durban, S. Africa. The water has such a high concentration of minerals that they become coated and look like fossils in just a few years! Spark plugs from Durban harbor Courtesy of Joshua Gilbert

OK, so fossils can form quickly. But how can we tell how old they are?

The Geologic Column ERA PERIOD EPOCH Appr. Beginning (Years Ago) Cenozoic Quaternary Holocene (Recent) 10,000 Pleistocene 1.8 million Tertiary Pliocene 5.3 million Miocene 23.8 million Oligocene 33.7 million Eocene 54.8 million Paleocene 65 million Mesozoic Cretaceous 144 million Jurassic 206 million Triassic 248 million Paleozoic Permian 290 million Pennsylvanian 323 million } CARBON- Mississippian 354 million } IFEROUS Devonian 417 million Silurian 443 million Ordovician 490 million Cambrian 543 million Archaeozoic Precambrian 4.5 billion (incl. Ediacaran or Vendian, 650 million) Most of these ages were assigned before radioactivity was even discovered.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “KNOW” SOMETHING? 1. Personal Experience through the five senses. I know a bee sting hurts; I know how to ride a bike. 2. Reliance on Authority. I know the sun is 93 million miles away; Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. 3. Logic. I know 2 million + 2 million = 4 million, even though I’ve never counted that high. I know I have a brain, even though I’ve never seen it. 4. Feeling or Intuition. I know she’s the one for me; I know God has called me to the ministry. 6. Bluffing (lying) - you try to persuade others for an ulterior motive. You should buy these tickets from me because I know this team is going to the Super Bowl this year; I know evolution is a fact! 5. Wishful Thinking (you really want it to be true) I just know I’m going to win the lottery!

THE PREHISTORIC PAST: 1. No living person haspersonal experience. 2. There are no eyewitness accounts except theBible, which is unacceptable to skeptics. SO HOW DO WE “KNOW” ABOUT THE BEGINNING? ThroughLOGIC ONLY.

Both sides look at the same evidence… - We just start with different premises to interpret it.

EVEN WITH CORRECT LOGIC, FALSE PREMISES CAN LEAD TO FALSE CONCLUSIONS. All dogs bark. (Or, “If an animal is a dog, then it barks.”) Fido is a dog. Therefore, Fido barks. Not if Fido is a Basenji! Basenjis do not bark. If any oneof our premises is wrong, then our conclusion is unreliable.

WHAT IF THERE IS EVEN ONE THING IN NATURE THAT REQUIRES GOD? “If it could be demonstrated thatanycomplex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous successive, slight modifications, my theory wouldabsolutely break down.” Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

EVOLUTION: Natural Processes Only! "Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such a hypothesis is excluded from science because it isnot naturalistic." Immunologist Scott C. Todd in a letter to Nature magazine, Sept. 1999 “... the theory of evolution itself [is] a theory universally acceptednot because it can be provedby logically coherent evidence to be true but because the only alternative, special creation, isclearly incredible.” D.M.S. Watson, “Adaptation,” Nature, Vol. 123 (1929), p.233

MATERIALISM: NO GOD ALLOWED! "We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, acommitment to materialism. “It is not that the methods and institutions of science some-how compel us to accept a material explanation of the phe-nomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that producematerial explanations, no matter how counterintuitive,no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for wecannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.” Richard Lewontin, Billions and billions of demons, The New York Review, p. 31, 9 January 1997

BASIC PREMISES OF EVOLUTION AND CREATION EVOLUTION: CREATION: 1. A supernatural intelligence created the universe. Though most things are explainable by natural processes,some things may not be. 1. Everythingmust beexplainable by purely natural processes. a. Atheistic evolution: There is no God. b. Theistic evolution: Since the Big Bang, God has had little involvement with nature. 2. God is powerful enough to useany method he chooses, including instantaneous creation. 2. Since there could be no other natural processes besides evolution, evolution is theonly possibility. 3. Since evolution has never been seen in human history, it must be very slow. The universe and earthhave tobe billions of years old. 3. Creation does not automatically require a specific age. a. Recent Creation: The earth is probably less than 10,000 years old. b. Gap Theory & Progressive Creation: Because evolutionists must know what they are talking about, the earth has to bebillions of years old. LIKE THE POSTULATES OF GEOMETRY, NEITHER SET OF PREMISES CAN BE PROVEN. THEY MUST BE ACCEPTED BY FAITH AS SELF-EVIDENT.

BASIC PREMISES OF EVOLUTION AND CREATION EVOLUTION: CREATION: 4. The Flood. a. Recent Creation:Oneworldwide flood. b. Gap Theory: Twoworldwide floods. c. Progressive Creation: Noworldwide flood. 4. Because a worldwide flood would cut billions of years off the time needed to produce the fossil record, there can never have been a worldwide flood. LIKE THE POSTULATES OF GEOMETRY, NEITHER SET OF PREMISES CAN BE PROVEN. THEY MUST BE ACCEPTED BY FAITH AS SELF-EVIDENT.

THE FOUNDATION OF EVOLUTION: Uniformitarianism. This is the UNPROVABLE geological doctrine that everything happens by slow, gradual, uniform processes. (“The present is the key to the past.”) There can never have been a worldwide flood. The Bible warns us: First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation. They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. (2 Peter 3:3-7 RSV)

The Geologic Column ERA PERIOD EPOCH Appr. Beginning (Years Ago) Cenozoic Quaternary Holocene (Recent) 10,000 Pleistocene 1.8 million Tertiary Pliocene 5.3 million Miocene 23.8 million Oligocene 33.7 million Eocene 54.8 million Paleocene 65 million Mesozoic Cretaceous 144 million Jurassic 206 million Triassic 248 million Paleozoic Permian 290 million Pennsylvanian 323 million } CARBON- Mississippian 354 million } IFEROUS Devonian 417 million Silurian 443 million Ordovician 490 million Cambrian 543 million Archaeozoic Precambrian 4.5 billion (incl. Ediacaran or Vendian, 650 million) Most of these ages were assigned before radioactivity was even discovered.

Basic Fossil Predictions of Creation vs. Evolution: EVOLUTION (Simple to Complex) 1. Strata represent time periods. There should be a continual overlap of life forms with no consistent worldwide patterns. 2. Uniformitarianism. 3. Few higher taxa should be represented in the earliest fossil-bearing rocks. The number should increase through time. 4. Gradual development of new basic types. 5. Continual gradual change. CREATION (Complex to Simple) 1. Strata represent ecological communities. There should be a pattern of clearly defined fossil communities around the world. 2. Catastrophism. 3. Many higher taxa (kingdom, phylum, class, order) should appear at the beginning. The number should decrease through time. 4. Sudden appearance of each basic type. 5. Stasis (resistance to basic change).

SUITES OF FOSSILS Rather than using radioactive dating, geologists identify each rock layer (Cambrian, Ordivician, Devonian, etc.) by a clearly defined community or suiteof fossils that is essentially the same no matter where in the world we find it. If evolution occurred, different types from amoebas to humans would have had to evolve at different rates in different places at different times. There should be no worldwide pattern of clearly defined communities of fossils. Yet this is precisely how we identify rocks. EVOLUTION IS CLEARLY WRONG.

PROBLEMS IN THE GEOLOGIC COLUMN In general, the earth’s rock layers contain fossils that seem to increase in complexity from bottom to top. However, there are hundreds of exceptions where individual fossils or entire strata are in the wrong order. CREATION SAYS: Suites of fossils represent ecological communities which fit their environment. Those near the bottom of the ocean have shapes appropriate to their habitat and only appear simpler. Misplaced fossils and strata are probably the result of hydraulic flood action moving them out of their normal habitat, or deformation while the sediment was still soft. EVOLUTION SAYS: Suites of fossils represent time periods. Those near the bottom look simpler because they evolved first and are simpler. Misplaced fossils and strata are the result of geologic processes such as faulting and overthrusting, millions of years after the rocks had fully hardened.

Deformation of Sedimentary Layers Evolutionists believe that bending of rocks occurred millions of years after the sedi-ment hardened into rock. Creationists believe the sedi-ments were bent while still soft. Above and right: Deformed strata in the Swartberg Mountains of S. Africa. Right: Meteor Cra-ter in Arizona. Evo-lutionists believe the meteor blasted through hardened rock; creationists note that the crater looks very much like the impact of a bullet in soft mud. Which makes more sense? Photos by the author

The Grand Cayman Islands: A Natural Demonstration Project South of Cuba are the Grand Cayman islands, where four distinct ecological communities thrive at the same time and place. 0-200 ft: The Reef. Thousands of typical shallow water species: Coral, barracuda, stingray, eels, etc. 200-600 ft: The Wall. “Sponge belt.” Lots of various types of sponges. Worms, crustaceans. 600-1000 ft: The Haystacks. (Lots of de-bris broken off from above.) Sharks, star-fish, sea whip corals, sea urchins, etc. 1000+ ft: The Deep. (Totally dark.) Cookie-cutter shark, coffin fish, tripod fish, spidery-armed jellyfish, sea cucumbers, etc. If we could instantly freeze the area, it would look just like the suites of fossils in the fossil record.

Ecological Communities Around the World Animals and plants live in interdependent communities, or biomes. These vary with climate, elevation above or below sea level, etc. Shown are two of the ecosystems found in Colorado. The same is true worldwide. (Denver Museum of Natural History – photos by the author)

HOW EVOLUTIONISTS DATE ROCKS ASSUME EVOLUTION IS CORRECT Geologic timetable and “correct” order of strata verified - Evolution Proved! Fossils must show pro- gression from simple to complex C I R C U L A R R E A S O N I N G Look for “tie-points” where radiometric ages match previously assigned age; reject ages that don’t fit (almost all!) Arrange strata on a chart in “correct” order Explain away out-of-order fossils and strata

HOW AGES WERE ORIGINALLY ASSIGNED 1. If a new fossil was previously unknown, it would be compared to the rocks where it was found to see if they contained a known suite of fossils (Cambrian, Devonian, etc.). If so, the new one was assigned the same age as that suite. 2. Even if there was not a full suite, the discoverer would look for individual fossils found nearby. If any of them were defined as “index fossils,” he simply used their previously assigned age for the new type. 3. If none of the other fossils had been assigned an age, he would decide how highly evolved the new organism was and assign an age based on the assumption that evolution had taken billions of years. 4. Finally, if the new fossil was found in only one suite, then it could be used as an index fossil and its assigned age used anywhere that suite was found. Any new fossils found in the same layer would automatically be assigned the same age.

What About Radioactive Dating? Number of protons is the atomic number. This determines what element the atom is. Electrons (-) are in or- bitals around the nucleus, which is composed of protons (+) and neutrons (neutral, shown in blue). - - - + + - + + Number of protons plus number of neutrons determines the mass number of the element. + - Number of neutrons determines the isotope of the element. - - Since protons are positively charged, they repel each other. Thus, every atom in the universe that has more than one proton should fly apart. However, if certain numbers of neutrons are present, the protons stay together. Scientists call the force that keeps them together the “Strong Nuclear Force,” but have no idea why it exists.

WHAT IS RADIOACTIVITY? An atom with an unstable nucleus (too many or too few neutrons for the number of protons) tries to re- lease excess poten- tial energy by emit- ting various particles, or releasing gamma radiation. - In Beta (b) decay, one of the neutrons in the nucleus breaks apart. It ejects a high-energy electron, leaving a proton in place of the neutron. This actually increases the atomic number by one, but leaves the mass number unchanged. - - + + - + + + - In Alpha (a) decay, the nucleus ejects two protons and two neutrons at the same time. This lowers the atomic number by two and the mass number by four. - - The radioactive atom starts out as one element called theparentand decays into adifferent elementcalled theradiogenic daughter. The daughter may or may not be radioactive. If the daughter is radioactive, it may in turn become the parent element of another radiogenic daughter.

RADIOACTIVE DECAY RATES Some radioactive “parents” decay into their final “daughter” in one step, e.g. Carbon- 14 to Nitrogen-14. Others go through many intermedi- ates, e.g. Uranium- 238 goes through 14 steps as it turns into Lead-206. However, we do not know what causes one atom to decay while the one next to it does not, so we cannot predict which individual atoms will decay. To measure decay rates we average together large numbers of atoms in a statistical analysis called a“half-life,”the amount of time it takes for half of a sample to decay. After one half-life 1/2 remains; after two half-lives, 1/4; after three, 1/8; after four, 1/16, and so forth.

RADIOACTIVE DECAY RATES COMMONLY USED RADIOACTIVE DATING METHODS PARENT DAUGHTER HALF-LIFE Carbon-14 Nitrogen-14 5730 years Potassium-40 Argon-40 1.3 billion years Uranium-235 Lead-207 713 million years Uranium-238 Lead-206 4.51 billion years Rubidium-87 Strontium-87 47 billion years Half-lives range from microseconds to (supposedly) billions of years. Since radioactivity was only discovered about a century ago,there is no way to verify long half-lives.

Characteristics of an Accurate Clock 1. Initial conditions known. What time did the clock say when it was wound up? 2. Known rate of change. The clock need not always run at the same rate, but if it changes we must know when and by how much. 3. Closed system. The clock must not have been reset or tampered with. Since we can’t be sure of any of these for any “clock” in nature, we should use many different methods to determine a maximum possible age. Out of all the dating methods, less than 10% point toward a maximum of billions of years. The rest point towardmillionsor eventhousands.

Conditions for Accurate Radiometric Dating Most rocks contain a mixture of elements. Many include a radioactive “parent” and a radiogenic “daughter.” 1. Initial percentage of parent and daughter in the rock must be known. We have no way to know this. The radioactive parents came from somewhere. According to evolution, the daughters could have been present to use as building blocks in making the parents in the first place. There would automatically have been a mix of daughter and parent from the beginning of the earth. We have no way to know what that mix was. This renders radioactive dating unreliable.

Periodic Table of the Elements 1 2 HYDROGEN HELIUM 1 4 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 LITHIUM BERYLLIUM BORON CARBON NITROGEN OXYGEN FLUORINE NEON 7 9 11 12 14 16 19 20 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 SODIUM MAGNESIUM ALUMINUM SILICON PHOSPHOROUS SULPHUR CHLORINE ARGON 23 24 27 28 31 32 35 40 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 POTASSIUM CALCIUM SCANDIUM TITANIUM VANADIUM CHROMIUM MANGANESE IRON COBALT NICKEL COPPER ZINC GALLIUM GERMANIUM ARSENIC SELENIUM BROMINE KRYPTON 39 40 45 48 51 51 55 56 58 59 64 65 70 73 75 79 80 84 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 RUBIDIUM STRONTIUM YTTRIUM ZIRCONIUM NIOBIUM MOLYBDENUM TECHNETIUM RUTHENIUM RHODIUM PALLADIUM SILVER CADMIUM INDIUM TIN ANTIMONY TELLURIUM IODINE XENON 85 88 89 91 93 96 99 101 103 106 108 112 115 119 122 126 127 131 55 56 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 CESIUM BARIUM HAFNIUM TANTALUM TUNGSTEN RHENIUM OSMIUM IRIDIUM PLATINUM GOLD MERCURY THALLIUM LEAD BISMUTH POLONIUM ASTATINE RADON 133 137 178 181 184 186 190 192 195 197 201 204 207 209 210 219 222 87 88 104 105 106 107 108 109 FRANCIUM RADIUM RUTHERFORD- DUBNIUM SEABORGIUM BOHRIUM HASSIUM MEITNERIUM 223 226 IUM 261 262 263 264 265 268 H He Li Be B C N O F Ne Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe Cs Ba Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At Rn Fr Ra Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt etc. La-Lu 57- 71 Ac-Lr 89-103 57 LANTHANUM 139 89 ACTINIUM 227 La Ac 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 CERIUM PRASEODYM- NEODYMIUM PROMETHEUM SAMARIUM EUROPIUM GADOLINIUM TERBIUM DYSPROSIUM HOLMIUM ERBIUM THULIUM YTTERBIUM LUTETIUM 140 IUM 141 144 147 147 152 157 159 162 165 167 169 173 175 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 THORIUM PROTACTIN- URANIUM NEPTUNIUM PLUTONIUM AMERICIUM CURIUM BERKELIUM CALIFORNIUM EINSTEINIUM FERMIUM MENDELEV- NOBELIUM LAWRENCIUM 232 IUM 231 238 237 244 243 247 247 251 252 257 IUM 258 259 260 Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho E Tm Yb Lu Th Pa U Np PuAmCm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr 90 elements are known to occur on earth. Elements 43, 61, and 93 and above (shown in red) are known only in artificially manufactured form, though #43 is seen in some stars. According to evolution, the 90 naturally occurring elements (shown in white) must have come from lighter “building blocks.”

Conditions for Accurate Radiometric Dating Most rocks contain a mixture of elements. Many include a radioactive “parent” and a radiogenic “daughter.” 1. Initial percentage of parent and daughter in the rock must be known. We have no way to know this. 2. Rate of change must have been constant the entire time. We’ve been watching for less than 100 years, but we have seen half-lives change by up to a billion times as fast.

Changes in Radioactive Decay Rates • Published decay rates are averages of experimental values. Some are a little lower, some are a little higher. • Decay rates have been determined over less than 100 years but are applied to 4.5 billion years! This is like watching a jet fly past for one second then guessing how fast it has been flying for the last 522 days. • Many believe the decay of individual atoms is purely random, but others believe there is some as-yet-unknown cause such as neutrino density. • Experiments have produced changes in decay rates of at least 14 different elements. • Under plasma conditions (all electrons removed), decay rates have been accelerated up to a billion times as fast. Evolutionists (and some creationists) believe the earth began in plasma conditions. This would render radiometric dating totally unreliable.

Conditions for Accurate Radiometric Dating Most rocks contain a mixture of elements. Many include a radioactive “parent” and a radiogenic “daughter.” 1. Initial percentage of parent and daughter in the rock must be known. We have no way to know this. 2. Rate of change must have been constant the entire time. We’ve been watching for less than 100 years, but we have seen half-lives change by up to a billion times as fast. 3. None of the parent or daughter can have been added or removed the entire time. Is there any rock that has never gotten wet? There is no way to be sure ofanyof these factors, let aloneallof them.

Potassium-Argon Dating 1. The elements potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) are abundant in the earth’s rocks. 2. K comes in three isotopes: K-39 and K-41, both stable, make up over 99.9% of the known potassium. The unstable K-40 makes up just over 0.01% and has a half-life of about 1.26 billion years. 3. Almost 89% of the time K-40 decays into Ca-40, useless for dating because it also occurs as a non-radiogenic element. 4. The other 11% of the time K-40 decays into the inert gas Ar-40, used for K-Ar dating because it can be trapped inside a rock. 5. Rocks are assumed to have formed in a molten state, then solidified after hundreds of millions of years of cooling. 6. Any Ar-40 in molten rock would have leaked out. Thus, we use the ratio of K-40 to Ar-40 to determine how long ago the rock solidified. PROBLEM: If the rock ever heated up enough to soften again (e.g., after a volcanic eruption), more Ar-40 could leak out and give ages that are wrong by billions of years!

HOW ABOUT CARBON DATING? 1. Cosmic radiation in the upper atmosphere strikes Nitrogen-14, turning it into the unstable isotope Carbon-14. 2. Plants use the C-12 and C-14 in the air to build up their cell structures. 3. The carbon becomes part of the animals that eat the plants. 4. When a plant or animal dies it stops taking in carbon. The C-12 does not change but the C-14 decays back to N-14 (with a half-life of 5730 years). By measuring the ratio of C-14 to C-12 in the carcass as compared to the atmosphere, we estimate how long ago it died.

PROBLEMS WITH CARBON DATING 1. The carbon in many fossils has been replaced by other minerals. You can’t carbon date something that doesn’t contain carbon. 2. If the animal or plant’s environment was low in C-14 it will give a false reading much higher than the real age. This happens frequently in sea creatures. 3. The ratio of C-14 to C-12 in the atmosphere keeps increasing. The older something is, the less C-14 was available and the less reliable the carbon date is. “Old” dates need to be adjusted accordingly. 4. Because of its short half-life, carbon dating works for ages of only a few thousand years. Since most fossils are supposed to be millions of years old, evolutionists don’t even try to carbon date them. 5. External factors can add or remove carbon or nitrogen. 6. Some plants are able to exclude C-14 from their structures. They, or anything that eats them, would automatically show a false age.

Reasons Fossils are not Dated by Other Radiometric Methods 1. A good size sample of radioactive material is needed to perform radiometric dating tests. The particles in most sediments are too finely divided for reliable testing. 2. The only kind of radioactive material that can be directly dated is igneous (volcanic) rock. It would have been so hot when it was laid down that it would have destroyed any living thing in its path, rather than preserving it as a fossil.

CCHEA Creation Seminar 01/17/08