Radiometric Dating

Radiometric dating measures the decay of radioactive atoms to determine the age of a rock sample. It is founded on unprovable assumptions such as 1) there has been no contamination and 2) the decay rate has remained constant. By dating rocks of known ages which give highly inflated ages, geologists have shown this method can’t give reliable absolute ages.

Radiometric Clock

Many geologists claim that radiometric “clocks” show rocks to be millions of years old. However, to read any clock accurately we must know where the clock was set at the beginning.

Radiometric Dating and the Age of the Earth

Most people think that radioactive dating has proven the earth is billions of years old. After all, textbooks, media, and museums glibly present ages of millions of years as fact. Yet few people know how radiometric dating works or bother to ask what assumptions drive the conclusions.

Radiometric Dating Accurate?

Is the earth approximately four billion years old? This figure wasn’t established by radiometric dating of the earth itself. Most people are not aware of this.

Radiohalos

Radiohalos shouldn’t exist, according to conventional wisdom! Though they are very tiny, polonium radiohalos have a huge message that cannot be ignored. They point to a catastrophic origin for granites, consistent with the biblical timeframe for earth history and God’s judgment during the Flood.

Articles About Radiometric Dating

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Magazine Article
How Reliable Are Dates for Human Fossils?

Nov. 12, 2023 from Answers Magazine
How much do we really know about all those human and ape fossils displayed in museums and textbooks? The dating methods aren’t as rock-solid as most people assume.
News
Diamonds—Time Capsules of Billions of Years?

Aug. 23, 2021 from Ken Ham Blog
Evolutionary geologists claim diamonds are billions of years old, but they ignore major issues with radiometric dating and Carbon-14 in diamonds.
Technical In-Depth Article
Uranium-Lead (U-Pb) Radioisotope Dating Method Problems

Jan. 23, 2020 from Answers in Depth
Uranium-lead radioisotope dating is now the preferred absolute dating method among geochronologists. But there are several problems with this particular method.
Book Chapter
The Dating Game

Sept. 16, 2017 from Essays on Origins: Creation vs. Evolution
Selected data and unprovable assumptions are a problem with all methods for determining the age of the earth, as well as for dating its fossils and rocks.
Book Chapter
Radioactive Dating of Rocks: Questions Answered

April 24, 2017 from How Do We Know the Bible Is True? Volume 2
Let’s take a closer look at the radioactive dating method and the radiometric dating methods and see how reliable they really are.
In-Depth Article
Key Flaw Found in Radioisotope Isochron Dating

March 27, 2017 from Answers in Depth
NCSU’s recent research revealed an “oversight in a radioisotope dating technique used to date everything from meteorites to geologic samples.”
In-Depth Article
Does the Earth’s Mantle Preserve Evidence of Its Origin?

Oct. 27, 2016 from Answers in Depth
New chemical analyses appear to show that some of the early mantle rock may have survived until today in rock formations called flood basalts.
Technical In-Depth Article
Helium Diffusion Rates Support Accelerated Nuclear Decay

May 4, 2016 from Answers in Depth
A significant fraction of the earth’s radioactive elements, particularly uranium and thorium, appear to be in the granitic rock of the upper continental crust.
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Feedback Article
Are the RATE Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) Results Caused by Contamination?

May 6, 2015 from Feedback
Internet posts continue to accuse the RATE team of ignoring clear evidence of contamination. But is this really the case?
In-Depth Article
The Latest on “Little Foot’s” Bid for Status as Humanity’s Most Ancient Ancestor

April 16, 2015 from Answers in Depth
The date evolutionists report for Little Foot is old enough to keep it in the running for human ancestor, but there is no reason to consider the dates reliable.
Technical In-Depth Article
Rocks Around the Clock: Do Zircons Contain Reliable Time Stamps and Early Earth’s Secrets?

Feb. 26, 2014 from Answers in Depth
Despite debate about the accuracy of the uranium “clocks” they contain, scientists say they’ve found a zircon with a confirmed age of 4.4 billion years.
Magazine Article
Radiometric Dating: Back to Basics

Feb. 19, 2014 from Answers Magazine
Radiometric dating is often used to “prove” rocks are millions of years old.
Feedback Article
Feedback: Dating Rocks Helps Creation Scientists

Nov. 22, 2013 from Feedback
Dr. Andrew Snelling explains how radioactive dating methods may help us derive not absolute but relative ages of rocks.
Magazine Article
Radiohalos—The Mysterious Vanishing Bullets

July 1, 2012 from Answers Magazine
Geologists have discovered a great mystery—tiny black circles, called radiohalos, formed by polonium decay. Where'd it come from, and where'd it go?
Clock in the Rock

Jan. 14, 2012 from News to Know
Rockin’ around the clock’s assumptions
Feedback Article
Radiometric Dating and Proof

Dec. 30, 2011 from Feedback
Isn’t radiometric dating irrefutable proof that the earth is approximately four billion year old? Dr. Andrew Snelling, AiG—U.S., responds.
Feedback Article
Dating Techniques

May 6, 2011 from Feedback
Just how far off are the commonly accepted dating methods? Dr. Andrew Snelling explains.
Magazine Article
Radiometric Dating: Making Sense of the Patterns

March 16, 2011 from Answers Magazine
Interpreted in a biblical framework, radiometric dating methods help us better understand the earth's history since creation six thousand years ago.
Technical In-Depth Article
Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth

March 9, 2011 from Answers in Depth
This article summarizes the purpose, history, and intermediate ﬁndings of the RATE project ﬁve years into an eight-year effort.
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Solar Flares and Radioactive Decay Relationship

Aug. 28, 2010
Last year we mentioned research that showed a relationship between earth’s distance from the sun and the rate at which certain elements undergo radioactive decay—an eyebrow-raising linkage.
Feedback Article
Fallacious Refutations

Aug. 27, 2010 from Feedback
Dr. Andrew Snelling, AiG–U.S., explains how to deal with refutations of creationist material
Magazine Article
Radiometric Dating: Problems with the Assumptions

Aug. 4, 2010 from Answers Magazine
Once you understand the basic science of radiometric dating, you can see how wrong assumptions lead to incorrect dates.
Magazine Article
Radiometric Dating

April 1, 2010 from Answers Magazine
Does radiometric dating show that rocks are millions of years old? No!
Technical In-Depth Article
Whole-Rock K-Ar Model and Isochron, and Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, and Pb-Pb Isochron, “Dating” of the Somerset Dam Layered Mafic Intrusion, Australia

March 24, 2010 from Answers in Depth
The Somerset Dam layered mafic intrusion in southeast Queensland, Australia, has been conventionally dated as Late Triassic by the apparently successful application of radioisotopic dating techniques.
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