Radiometric Dating

What is radiometric dating?
How accurate is radiometric dating?
How does radiometric dating work?
Are there any other assumptions?
What are the most common forms of radiometric dating?
What is Potassium-Argon dating?
What is the most reliable dating method?
What kinds of rocks are dated by K/Ar?
Does K/Ar dating of basalt give reliable results?
What about lava flows for which we know the date?
What are the observed K/Ar isotope ratios in basalts really telling us?
Does K/Ar dating work well in any other rocks?
Is the argon in rocks only from decay of K-40?
What is Rubidium-Strontium Dating (Rb/Sr) ?
How are Rb/Sr dates calculated?
What is "a suite of samples"? Is it different minerals from one rock specimen, or multiple rock specimens?
Then why do we hear about so many dates which match the evolutionary timescale?
How are "too old" ages explained?
How are "too young" ages explained?
Can those believing in a short age for life on earth explain these dates?
What is Uranium-Thorium-Lead (U/Th/Pb) Dating?
How does Uranium-Thorium-Lead Dating work?
Can scientists using this method correct for migration of isotopes?
Do the "discordia lines" give accurate ages?
Is there any other explanation of the observed ratios?
What is Carbon-14 dating?
Where does C-14 come from?
How is C-14 used in dating?
How is C-14 measured?
How accurate is C-14 dating?
Is there any C-14 in fossil animals and plants?
Why do creation/flood models predict that carbon-14 might be found in fossil material?
How does a short-age model, with a flood only a few thousand years ago, explain these C-14 dates in the 55,000 year range?
Could this slight amount of C-14 observed in fossils be contamination?
Could this C-14 be formed from radioactivity underground?
What would this residual activity mean for the evolutionary timescale?
What are radiohaloes ?
How can haloes show the age of a mineral?
How reliable are ages based on halo damage?
Are haloes formed by elements other than uranium?
Are haloes found in other kinds of rocks besides granites?
What could oval haloes in coal indicate about time?
Are there uranium haloes in this coal?
What is Fission Track Dating ?
How are the fission tracks identified?
How reliable are the results?
How does the amino acid racemization method work?
Does it give an accurate time-clock?
How are the observed D/L ratios interpreted?
What other methods are used?
Can a rock be dated by more than one method?
If multiple methods are used carefully in conjunction with fossils, does this mean that we can be sure that the date obtained gives the correct age?
How would you summarize the situation with radiometric dating?
How do you explain the consistent pattern of dates given by, say, K/Ar dating methods.
What about, for example, the age of the Hawaiian Islands? The Hawaiian Islands are the remnants of a long chain of islands, youngest in the southeast (i.e. Hawaii, where the active volcanoes are) and progressively older toward the northwest. A consistent relationship has been found between the distance of a volcano from Hawaii and its radiometric age.
How do you explain this: Using the estimated radiometric ages of the individual islands, and assuming uniform easterly movement, an estimate of 9cm/yr can be made for the Pacific Plate. Satellites have confirmed that rate.
Ó 2010 Arthur V. Chadwick, Ph.D.