Carbon-14—in coal?

Those who believe in an old-earth say it took millions of years to produce all the coal we have today.

Now, scientists often use carbon-14 dating to date once-living things they believe are tens of thousands of years old. But carbon-14 decays quickly. Anything supposedly older than about ninety thousand years shouldn’t have any carbon-14 left in it. But scientists have discovered carbon-14 in coal deposits! This coal can’t be millions of years old, or all the carbon-14 would be gone.

The Bible gives us the true age for coal. Most of the deposits formed during the global flood, about four thousand years ago.

Dig Deeper

• The Answers Book for Kids: Volume 1
• Carbon-14 in Fossils and Diamonds