I am in an official one v one debate with a creationist over the earth's age.

[Atothetheist]

Need useful sources, and all possible, easiest way to explain the method.please help, I expect he would want an easy way to explain, and I don't have an easy way to explain it.

[kingschosen]

(19-07-2012 03:18 PM)Atothetheist Wrote:  Need useful sources, and all possible, easiest way to explain the method.please help, I expect he would want an easy way to explain, and I don't have an easy way to explain it.

Radiometric dating: the radioactive element has a measurable half-life.

[Vosur]

There you go: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometric_dating

[Bucky Ball]

the "Curve of Knowns"
http://www.c14dating.com/int.html
Empirical data for a vast range of radionuclides now exists. Kaye & Laby's Tables of Physical & Chemical Constants, devised and maintained by the National Physical Laboratory in the UK, contains among the voluminous sets of data produced by the precise laboratory work of various scientists a complete table of the nuclides, which due to its huge size, is split into sections to make it more manageable, in which data such as half-life, major emissions, emission energies and other useful data are included. The sections are:
[1] Hydrogen to Flourine
[2] Neon to Potassium
[3] Calcium to Copper
[4] Zinc to Yttrium
[5] Zirconium to Indium
[6] Tin to Praesodymium
[7] Neodymium to Thulium
[8] Ytterbium to gold
[9] Mercury to Actinium
[10] Thorium to Einsteinium
[11] Fermium to Roentgenium (name not yet officially recognised by IUPAC)

Discussion of above here : http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/vi...184#269184

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/ev...ocks.shtml
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Feature..._IceCores/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geochronology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dating_meth...rchaeology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_dating
http://aigbusted.blogspot.com/2007/09/hu...young.html
http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.ph...-debunked/
http://home.earthlink.net/~ironmen/qumran5.htm
http://www.harvardhouse.com/Gabriel-to-D...Method.htm
http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/creat...html#prove
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hovind/howgood-c14.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educat...teach.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Learning.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/McKinney.html
http://www.acad.carleton.edu/curricular/...gback.html
http://www.acad.carleton.edu/curricular/...index.html
http://letterstocreationists.wordpress.com/stan-3/
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/vi...184#269184
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...161307.htm

There are multiple methods used all of which give answers in about the same range. (When you're dealing with ages in billions of years being off by a million or three is a small percentage). The Earth is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old.

These methods include:
Radiocarbon dating
Potassium-Argon dating
Uranium-Lead dating.

All of these relate a known, relatively constant rate of decay of a radioactive isotope. They're not affected by external factors such as temperature, pressure, etc.

There are other dating methods as well that can be used to establish that the age of the Earth is WELL over anything the Creationists are proposing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_ti…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometric…
http://ncse.com/cej/3/2/answers-to-creat...-14-dating


Knock yourself out, badass.

[Erxomai]

Just say, "I know you are, but what am I?"

Helps me win about 85% of every debate I've ever been in.

[kingschosen]

(19-07-2012 05:53 PM)Erxomai Wrote:  Just say, "I know you are, but what am I?"

Helps me win about 85% of every debate I've ever been in.

I'm rubber, you're glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.

[Erxomai]

(19-07-2012 06:02 PM)kingschosen Wrote:  

(19-07-2012 05:53 PM)Erxomai Wrote:  Just say, "I know you are, but what am I?"

Helps me win about 85% of every debate I've ever been in.

I'm rubber, you're glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.

That's a good one too, but I usually wait to make that my final coup de grâce.

[kingschosen]

(19-07-2012 06:07 PM)Erxomai Wrote:  

(19-07-2012 06:02 PM)kingschosen Wrote:  I'm rubber, you're glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.

That's a good one too, but I usually wait to make that my final coup de grâce.

[houseofcantor]

I think Bucky handled that... so!

Can't be older than twelve. Cause that's when my Gwynnies made me, and we all know there ain't nothing before I.

Oh yeah! What a bunch of adults, Erxy, KC....

[Bucky Ball]

(19-07-2012 06:29 PM)houseofcantor Wrote:  I think Bucky handled that... so!

Can't be older than twelve. Cause that's when my Gwynnies made me, and we all know there ain't nothing before I.

Oh yeah! What a bunch of adults, Erxy, KC....

Ya know you've been here too long when it takes 10 minutes to find something ya did 9 months ago.