07-05-2012, 01:02 PM
We have proof that it takes X amount of time for half of a specific amount of uranium to decay into lead -- I believe it's 4.5 billion years.
Therefore, by comparing the amount of lead to the amount of uranium in any given rock, we can tell roughly how old it is. It's like looking at an hourglass that doesn't flow smoothly, but gets slower as there's less sand in the top half pushing down into the bottom. You can tell how long ago that the clock was started by comparing the amount of sand in the bottom half to the amount of sand in the top half.
We have found zircon crystals that, using this method, date back nearly 4.5 billion years. We have found meteorites from the asteroid belt and Mars that date back nearly 4.5 billion years.
So while we only have circumstantial evidence that the world existed 3.5 billion years ago, in the same way we only have circumstantial evidence that the world existed 100 years ago either. The American Revolutionary War, the Renaissance, the Spanish-American war, the dinosaurs, who can say they actually happened and are not just things put there in their existing physical form and memories when God created the world and all the people in it in what we call the year 1912?
Therefore, by comparing the amount of lead to the amount of uranium in any given rock, we can tell roughly how old it is. It's like looking at an hourglass that doesn't flow smoothly, but gets slower as there's less sand in the top half pushing down into the bottom. You can tell how long ago that the clock was started by comparing the amount of sand in the bottom half to the amount of sand in the top half.
We have found zircon crystals that, using this method, date back nearly 4.5 billion years. We have found meteorites from the asteroid belt and Mars that date back nearly 4.5 billion years.
So while we only have circumstantial evidence that the world existed 3.5 billion years ago, in the same way we only have circumstantial evidence that the world existed 100 years ago either. The American Revolutionary War, the Renaissance, the Spanish-American war, the dinosaurs, who can say they actually happened and are not just things put there in their existing physical form and memories when God created the world and all the people in it in what we call the year 1912?