Radio dating methods

The next few pages cover a broad overview of radiometric dating techniques, show a few examples, and discuss the degree to which the various dating systems agree with each other.

The goal is to promote greater understanding on this issue, particularly for the Christian community.

But because God has also called us to wisdom, this issue is worthy of study.

Rocks are made up of many individual crystals, and each crystal is usually made up of at least several different chemical elements such as iron, magnesium, silicon, etc.

Many people have been led to be skeptical of dating without knowing much about it. In spite of this, differences still occur within the church.

For example, most people don't realize that carbon dating is only rarely used on rocks. A disagreement over the age of the Earth is relatively minor in the whole scope of Christianity; it is more important to agree on the Rock of Ages than on the age of rocks.

His Ph D thesis was on isotope ratios in meteorites, including surface exposure dating.

Radiometric dating--the process of determining the age of rocks from the decay of their radioactive elements--has been in widespread use for over half a century.

There are over forty such techniques, each using a different radioactive element or a different way of measuring them.

Most of the elements in nature are stable and do not change.

However, some elements are not completely stable in their natural state.