AboutDr Thomas Bell Expertise I can answer questions regarding surface earth processes and the chemical transformations that sediments and rocks undergo with burial. I can also answer questions regarding deep time, the evolution of the elements, and the last 4.5 billion years of earth history. I specialize in metallic ore forming processes, the major geologic time periods when they were produced and what they tell us about the evolution of our planet. Learn more about my professional interests at Stratamodel.com.
Experience I am a professional consulting geologist with a background in the petroleum, mining, environmental, and geotechnical industries with over 25 years of experience.
Education/Credentials Ph.D., Geology, University of California at Berkeley, 1984
M.A., Geology, University of California at Berkeley, 1980
B.S., Geology, San Jose State University, 1978
Question A Young Earth Creastist told me the following:
"Classically, C14 dating is notoriously inaccurate because of the method used in the measurement - a simple Geiger counter. The older the sample, the slower (and more noisy) the count rate, and the lower the accuracy. A newer method, the accelerator mass spectrometer, gives highly accurate readings of residual C14, and hence accurate dates. With this newer C14 method, virtually ALL fossils show very nearly the same age - about 4500 years "
Is this true? How accurate is C-14 dating, in respond to the Earth's age?
Thanks
Answer Ray,
Your Young Earth friend is misinformed. No one uses or has ever used a geieger counter to date fossils. Refinements of the instruments used in radiocarbon dating do have improved resolution but older radiocarbon dating is still very accurate. The newer method of accelerator mass spectrometry, AMS for short, allows archaeologists to more precisely date human artifacts and other relatively young earth materials than ever before.
Despite this advance, radiocarbon dating can only be used on material that is less than 40-60,000 years old. This method is not used on fossils very frequently. It is more likely to be used by archaeologists to determine how old human artifacts are. You might be interested to see that many of the human artifacts dated by the radiocarbon method are far older than 4,500 years. Here are some examples, some of which use the new AMS radiocarbon method.
