response to cellmould,
Sorry about the delay,
Cellmould said:
"You are trying to open a can of worms...If the C14/C12 ratio were many orders of magnitude (factors of 10) smaller in the past, what made it increase? What we do know is that this ratio has been relatively stable...we know that it has not experienced sudden increases because we measure samples in different strata and see a linear (not exponential) continuum of ratios. "
Answer:
If the amount of C14 in the atmosphere was much less in the past it would cause all current Carbon 14 "dates" to show an age way older than the actual age. C14 is produced by the action of cosmic rays on atmospheric nitrogen. If, as the Bible seems to imply there was much more water vapor in the atmosphere in the past before the flood, this would have a shielding effect, and would cause much less carbon 14 production in the past. After the flood C14 production would increase.
Cellmould said:
"I repeat Crazy's question: Do you believe the earth to be only 6,000 years old?"
Answer: I do not know the age of the Earth, as there is no way to directly and positively date the Earth (measuring current isotope ratios only proves current isotpe ratios!, it doesn't prove dates) I do believe the bible chronology which shows that the majority of strata was laid down by the flood, 4500 to 10,000 years ago. I believe that the sedimentry rock layers from the cambrian and up were laid down during and after the biblical flood. I believe that the layers were formed rapidy during "flood stages" and not slowly over long "geologic ages"
cellmould said:
"It is a safe assumption to say that the C14/C12 atmospheric ratio has been relatively constant over the years."
Answer: Its only a safe assumption only if you first disregard the biblical account of the Earths condition before and after the flood. Also I have read some results which show Carbon 14 production is increasing relative to C12. This gives a relatively young date for the start of C14 production.
Cellmould said:
"Let's say that there was a flood about 4,000 to 8,000 years ago. Almost all life on earth was destroyed (Although we do know better than to believe that). Would this event have caused the isotope ratio to plummet, making animals that died 3,000 years ago appear to be millions of years old? "
Answer:
If almost all life on earth was destroyed in a flood 4,000 to 8,000 years ago, we woulld expect to find billions of fossils layed down in many layers of sediment all over the earth . . . oops that is exactly what we find! Would this have caused the isotope ratio to plummet? No this in itself would not cause the isotope ratio to plummet . . . but the amount of C14 in these dead remains could be very small due to less C14 in the past, as well as potentially an even greater factor which would be the increase amount of C12 in the pre-flood atmosphere due to the sub-tropical climate of the pre-flood earth. You use the phrase "millions of years" in relation to carbon dating?????? C14 dating in theory is only good to date events in the resent past (max 100k years). therefore it is impossible for C14 dating to even give hypothetical dates in the "millions of years"
Cellmould said
"Just think about that. It doesn't make sense at all. With the loss of vegetation and animal mass on earth, carbon 14 production would have slowed down considerably, but...here is the clincher...C14 decays VERY SLOWLY. If you do the math, you will see that while Carbon 14 production might decrease, but it does not instantly disappear from the atmosphere. It would still take millions of years of decreased production for it to decay to such small levels.
Carbon 14 is produced by the action of cosmic rays on atmospheric nitrogen, vegetation and animals do not produce C14. Once again C14 dating cannot even give "dates" in the "millions" of years.
Cellmould said:
"Geological events would also not be responsible for shifting isotope ratios. The difference in mass between C14 and C12 is so tiny that the two are chemically equivalent. (In terms of reactivity) If anything, geological events could only homogenize isotope ratios, by causing a mixture of matter with different isotope ratios. But in no way could a geological event cause isotope ratios to be shifted.
Answer: Atmospheric changes could cause ratios to change if the rate of production of C14 changes. Also a geologic event on the scale of the biblical flood would change the amount of C12 produced by life.
Cellmould said:
"The major point is this...atmospheric C14/C12 ratios are very stable right now. Had there been any major perturbation in recent history, we would not be any where near equilibrium right now. At the very least, we would be seeing the levels oscillate significantly.
Answer: Some studies show an increasing rate of C14 relative to C12.
Cellmould said:
"It doesn't require faith to believe that the dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. You can simply read a book or two and become intellectually convinced of the soundness of that conclusion."
It does require faith to believe that the dinosaurs lived "millions" of years ago since there is no way to directly "date" dinosaur bones. On the contrary most dinosaur bones still have a large amont of bone left. If they were "millions" of years old shouldn't they be completely fossilized? Also blood cells have been found in these "millions of years old" bones. And while we are on the subject of C14 "dating" -if these bones are really millions of years old there should be no detectible C14 in the bones at all . . . but there is C14 there , and in quantities that give dates in the "thousands of years" range like what you would expect from a biblical chronology! Toward the turn of the century you could simply have read a book or two and have became "intellectually" convinced of the soundness that the earth was 100,000 years old. The same intellectual books "proved" that the earth was 2 billion years ago in the 1950's. Today the books show 4.6 billion years, but stay tuned......
Cellmould said:
"I know from experience that the only thing of which the Bible convices you is the need to have faith. That doesn't cut it for me. "
Answer: it takes faith to believe in the Bible, but it also takes a lot of faith to believe that we came from reptiles millions of years ago.