HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?

Picture of the Earth

adapted from an article by

A.J. Monty White

B.Sc., Ph.D., C.Chem.

Used with the kind permission of the Creation Science Movement, 50 Brecon Avenue, Cosham, Portsmouth, England, P06 2AW.

There are two irreconcilable views about origins: evolution and creation. Those who believe in evolution accept that everything - the entire universe, including the earth and all of its forms of life - is the result of chance natural forces operating over thousands of millions of years. On the other hand, those who subscribe to creation believe that everything was created by God Almighty a few thousand years ago. If it can be shown that the age of the earth spans just a few thousand years, not the many millions of years claimed by evolutionists, then there simply would not have been enough time for evolution to have occurred. This is why the issue of the age of the earth is important: It can answer the question of whether the universe came into being through the process of evolution or an act of creation.

The age of the earth is usually said to be a staggering 4.6 billion years. However, as we shall see, there is scientific evidence that shows it is actually much younger than this. This evidence, coming from a variety of scientific disciplines, indicates the earth has only existed for a few thousand years.

What, then, is the evidence?

Short-Period Comets

One piece of evidence leading some scientists to think the earth is relatively young comes from the fact that short-period comets are found in the solar system. The time it takes for a comet to make a complete revolution of the sun is called its period. Short-period comets orbit the sun in less than 150 years. (Long-period comets may take many thousands of years to complete their orbits.) The head of a comet can be thought of as a huge, dirty snowball. As it approaches the sun it grows a “tail”: particles are blown off its icy head by the solar wind (high-speed protons). Because it loses mass on every orbit, eventually a comet will shrink to the point where it ceases to exist altogether. This will happen to short-period comets sooner than it will to their long-period cousins.

Since the planets and short-period comets together constitute a single solar system (viz., they all orbit the sun), astronomers suspect the planets and comets are about the same age. Due to the regular loss of mass experienced by comets, British astronomer R.A. Lyttleton concluded that “probably no short-period comet can survive more than about 10,000 years” ( Mysteries of the Solar System [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968], p.110).

[T]he very existence of short-period comets in our time (e.g., Halley's comet) indicates that the solar system, and hence the earth, is less than 10,000 years old.

Therefore, the very existence of short-period comets in our time (e.g., Halley's comet) indicates the solar system, and hence the earth, is less than 10,000 years old.

Uranium-Thorium-Lead Method of Radiometric Dating

The radio-isotopes of uranium and thorium found in some rocks emit alpha particles (Helium-4 nuclei) as they decay. As these alpha particles slow down they pick up electrons, forming Helium-4 atoms. Helium-4 readily migrates through the earth's crust and into the atmosphere. It is possible to calculate the amount of Helium-4 being produced by the decay of uranium and thorium using estimates of the amounts of uranium and thorium in earth's crust. The rate of Helium-4 released into the atmosphere each year has been calculated by Henry Faul.

In his book, Nuclear Geology, he estimates it to be about 3.5 x 1011 grams per year. Because we know that there are roughly 3.5 x 1016 grams of helium now present in the atmosphere, it must have taken less than 11,000 years for 3.5 x 1016 grams of Helium-4 to be produced from the decay of the crustal uranium and thorium. Of course, if for any reason rates of decay were greater in the past, or if the atmosphere included Helium-4 from the moment it was created, this upper limit of 11,000 years would need to be revised downwards.

Imbalance of Radiocarbon

Neutrons are knocked free from atoms in the upper atmosphere by high-speed protons radiated from the sun. Many of these neutrons travel at a high velocity. Upon colliding with atmospheric nitrogen, the neutron will displace a proton in the nitrogen nucleus, transforming the Nitrogen-14 atom into an atom of Carbon-14.* Carbon-14 is a radioactive form of carbon, also called radiocarbon. Newly formed radiocarbon readily combines with oxygen in the air to make carbon dioxide. The radioactive CO2 then diffuses into the atmosphere, where some of it will be assimilated by plants during photosynthesis. Animals acquire radiocarbon chiefly by eating the roots, stalks, leaves, fruit, or seeds of plants or by devouring other animals that have dined on such fare. When a plant or animal dies, it ceases to accumulate radiocarbon and the existing amount already incorporated into the organism begins to diminish due to radioactive decay.

If the earth were more than 100,000 years old, the rate of production of radiocarbon in the upper atmosphere would be equal to its rate of disappearance from the biosphere due to radioactive decay. But these two rates are not equal. There is an imbalance between the rate of formation of radiocarbon and its rate of disappearance from the biosphere.

There is an imbalance between the rate of formation of radiocarbon and its rate of disappearance from the biosphere... [and] this imbalance leads to the conclusion that the earth's atmosphere is about 10,500 years old.

In his book, Prehistory and Earth Models, Professor Melvin Cook has shown (p.1 ff.) that this imbalance leads to the conclusion that the earth's atmosphere is about 10,500 years old.

Decay of Earth's Magnetic Field

The decay of the earth's magnetic field is the last piece of evidence that we shall look at here. It is known, though not well-publicized, that the earth's magnetic field is decaying quite rapidly. The process has been accurately measured since 1835. The use of this data as an argument for a young earth has been developed and refined by Dr. Thomas G. Barnes, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Texas (El Paso).

It is thought that the earth's magnetic field results from electrical currents generated by molton metal circulating in the interior of the planet. Dr. Barnes has shown that theoretically the magnetic moment of the earth should decay exponentially as energy is dissipated through Joule heating. When the measured values for the last 150 years of the planets magnetic moment are plotted against time, it becomes apparent that there has indeed been exponential decay, in accordance with Barnes' model.

Furthermore, the half-life of the earth's magnetic decay (the time it takes for the magnetic moment of the earth to diminish to half its value at any given time) is about 1,400 years; that is, 1,400 years ago it was twice as strong as it is now. This means that if the earth had been in existence 20,000 years ago, the strength of the magnetic field on the surface of the earth would have been 18,000 gauss - stronger than the field between the poles of the most powerful radar magnets.

[T]he half-life of the earth's magnetic decay ... is about 1,400 years ... From this it can be concluded that the earth must be less than 20,000 years old.

Dr. Barnes has pointed out that the core of the earth could not have held together with the heat that would have been associated with such a strong magnetic field. From this it can be concluded that the earth must be less than 20,000 years old.

Biblical Considerations

It should not be surprising to find that different scientific methods give figures of less than 20,000 years for the age of the earth, since this estimate is consistent with the Biblical record. Using the information and time periods given in 1 Kings 6:1, Exodus 12:40, and Genesis 47:9, Genesis 25:26, and Genesis 21:5, it is possible to calculate that Abraham was born very close to 2,000 B.C.; and from the genealogy in Genesis 11, it is possible to estimate when Noah lived. Then, by using the genealogical information found in Genesis 5, one can gauge approximately when Adam and Eve were created.

Even if the genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 are not strictly chronological, there are limits to how far these genealogies can be stretched before they become meaningless. Allowing gaps throughout the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 of about 1,000 years each, we could say that the upper limit to man's creation is 20,000 years ago. If there are no gaps in the genealogical accounts, Adam and Eve would have been created about 6,000 years ago. Taking the days of Genesis 1 as literal, 24-hour days - as it would seem the author of the text would have us do - the creation of Adam and Eve followed the creation of the earth by a mere six days. Thus, the historical dating of Adam and Eve and the earth are virtually the same. Therefore, a figure of around 10,000 years for the age of the earth is consistent with what the Bible teaches about the date for the creation of Adam and Eve.

Conclusion

There is ample scientific evidence to demonstrate that there has not been enough time since the origin of the earth for evolution to have occurred. The existence of short-period comets, the amount of helium in the atmosphere, the fact that the production and disappearance of radiocarbon in the atmosphere are not in equilibrium, and the diminishing strength of the earth's magnetic field all point to an age for the earth measuring in the thousands, not millions, of years. Regrettably, evolutionists choose to ignore such evidence so as not to have to abandon cherished evolutionary ideas and accept the existence of a Creator and all that such an admission implies.


C12 has 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons;

N14 has 7 protons, 7 neutrons, and 7 electrons;

C14 has 6 protons, 8 neutrons, and 6 electrons.

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