Common corrosives are either strong acids, strong bases, or concentrated solutions of certain weak acids or weak bases. It may attack a great variety of materials, including metals and various organic compounds, but people are mostly concerned with its effects on living tissue: Concentrated or strong bases are caustic on organic matter and react violently with acidic substances. The definition of caustic is: A strongly alkaline environment would destroy tissue because it is caustic.
So if there is some wet environment permitting both bone and soft tissue to be preserved for millions of years, it must be highly unusual.
How Does Carbon Dating Work
It seems that it could not be highly acidic, highly basic, or neutral. So such an environment could not explain how fossil remains from all through the fossil record could contain significant amounts of C14, dating to about 40, years or less because most of them would not be in such an unusual environment, if it could even exist. But if the environment were dry, then the bones could not be contaminated. Now, could air bring contamination to these bones? Air would bring moisture, which again would enable the growth of bacteria. Dry air would contain carbon dioxide, but this is a highly stable molecule and would not transfer carbon to the bone without an input of energy from somewhere.
In any event, such contamination would be on the surface and would be omitted by thorough cleaning methods. Now, how much contamination would there have to be if the dinosaur bones were really of infinite C14 age as the scientists claim? Suppose X parts of carbon were original and Y parts were contamination.
This means that nearly one percent of the carbon would have to be contamination. Thus nearly 10 percent of the carbon would have to be contamination! Similarly, to get a measured age of 40, years if the contaminating material had a C14 age of 20, years would mean that nearly 10 percent of the total carbon would have to be contamination! Surely this would be noticed. This is a large amount and should be detectable by some means.
This figure is for contamination from recent organic matter.
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If the contamination is by older carbon, then the amount would even have to be larger. And in any case, in a dry environment, contamination would be impossible. This is not considered as contamination. This cutoff is purely arbitrary.
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Could contamination of the bones come from bacteria? And, of course, in a dry environment there would be essentially no bacteria. Dry environments preserve organic matter well. Even if dinosaur bones were percent C14 originally in their carbon content, a ridiculous assumption, after a million years there would be very few C14 atoms left, and this much C14 in the beginning might give off too much radiation for the animal to survive. Also, this would require a lot of radiation entering the earth to generate so much C14, and this radiation alone would drive many species extinct.
This is an absolute upper bound on the ages of these fossils regardless of atmospheric conditions, assuming no contamination. Some people attempt to explain away these young dates by saying that neutrons were generated in the earth and created the C14 in the dinosaur bones.
These neutrons could have been generated by the decay of uranium and thorium in the soil. However, referring to this possibility for C14 found in diamonds, Dr. One can hypothesize that neutrons were once much more plentiful than they are now, and that is why there is so much carbon in our experimental samples. But the number of neutrons required must be over a million times more than those found today, for at least 6, years In addition, the Wikipedia article on C14 dating does not even mention uranium decay as a problem for C14 dating.
Thus the concentration of uranium and thorium in the dinosaur bones is near or in the normal range. If this amount could invalidate C14 dates, then it would be mentioned as a significant factor in C14 dating. Furthermore, historic C14 dates are relatively accurate. Uranium does not seem to be affecting them. Another possible explanation for the young C14 dates is that some kind of radiation from space is causing them. Radiation from space would strike everywhere the same. And such radiation might even cause the remaining C14 to decay faster. If uranium is producing neutrons that make C14 from C12, then why are C14 dates of 20, years to 40, years ever accepted?
Absolute Dating
They are accepted for example for the mastodons. The following quotation is from The date was established by radiocarbon tests, and reinforced by a careful study of pollen found in clay samples recovered by the Maryland Geological Survey. By measuring the ratio of carbon 14 remaining in plant or animal material, scientists can determine approximately when it died—provided it falls withinlast 40, years. If radiation from space and uranium were significant factors in C14 dating then they should be used to correct historic C14 dates as well, but they are not.
Likewise radiation coming from millions of miles away in space has an uncanny ability to hit dinosaur bones only. It must be then that these bones are really young. However, this conclusion is not likely to be accepted by the scientific community. There is tremendous inertia in science.
Those who propose radical changes risk damage to their careers and ridicule. They say that organic matter in the fossils has to be old because evolution requires it and we know that evolution is true. This is an argument that is used to justify the old dates. Before the flood there could have been a lot more vegetation.
Thus the C14 produced in the atmosphere would have been diluted by a lot more carbon in vegetation. This could have made the C14 ages too old, so life could actually be younger than 20, to 40, years. Of course, if there were less C14 in the past due perhaps to a stronger magnetic field around the earth, this would also have had a similar effect. A younger age would be in accordance with a short literal Bible chronology. Some science expositors claim that radioactive decay happens at a constant rate, so isotopic dates are accurate. Then they say that the dinosaur bones must be millions of years old because the radioactive dates require it.
However, radioactive decay frequently happens faster than we observe it in the laboratory—for example, in nuclear reactors, in stars, and in supernovae. Decay could have been faster in the past, explaining why dates based on radioactivity could be too old. This speedup could be caused by some kind of radiation hitting the earth, or by very strong electric currents generated by some means in the earth. Carbon 14 has a much shorter half-life than many other radioactive substances, which means that it is much more unstable.
Thus any increase in instability due to external factors might affect C14 dating much less than dating based on isotopes with much longer half-lives.
At any rate, we have evidence from helium retention in zircons that the rate of decay was faster in the past, whatever the cause was. A good summary of this work, criticisms of it, and responses to these criticisms was written by Russ Humphreys in Skip to main content. Search Search this site. Thursday, February 14, - 7: Radiometric Dating Fossils Physics.
How Carbon 14 Is Produced and Decays Carbon 14 is an isotope of carbon with two extra neutrons in the nucleus. Young Carbon 14 Dates In general, organic matter in the fossil record dates by C14 dating to 20, to 40, years. An apatosaurus was found in late Jurassic strata of the Morrison formation, and excavation was done in and Amino Acid Dating There is another dating method based on the orientation of amino acids, whether they spiral to the right D or to the left L: Preservation of Bone and Soft Tissue Based on current tests, it appears that many and perhaps all fossils with organic matter have young carbon 14 dates, and also that a significant number of dinosaur fossils have soft tissue.
Radiocarbon dating - Wikipedia
Necessary Quantity of Contamination Now, how much contamination would there have to be if the dinosaur bones were really of infinite C14 age as the scientists claim? Could It Be Bacteria?
Could It Be Atmospheric Conditions? Neutron Capture Explanation Some people attempt to explain away these young dates by saying that neutrons were generated in the earth and created the C14 in the dinosaur bones. Could It Be Radiation? What about the old isotopic dates? How can they be explained? A good summary of this work, criticisms of it, and responses to these criticisms was written by Russ Humphreys in 21 1.
Brown RH Apr Answering questions concerning radiocarbon dating. Carbon dated dinosaur bones - under 40, years old.