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Author Topic:   Assessing the Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth (RATE) Project
Taq
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Posts: 10038
Joined: 03-06-2009
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 18 of 36 (564292)
06-09-2010 3:19 PM
Reply to: Message 13 by BobTHJ
06-06-2010 7:24 PM


Is the RATE project's conclusion of accelerated decay a reasonable one?
Ignoring the helium diffusion studies for the moment, no it is not reasonable. Not even close.
The first thing you need to deal with is the added heat. Decay produces energy. If you increase the decay rates by several thousand fold you will quite literally melt the Earth and everything on it. You can check out the math here. Spontaneous combustion comes to mind. The very fact that we are here talking about accelerated decay means that it didn't happen.
Not only that, but if extrapolating into the past is a bad thing then so is extrapolating into the future. This means that atomic bombs could spontaneously explode. The same for nuclear reactors. If creationists really believed in this accelerated decay crap then they would be feverishly pursuing the destruction of all nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors. Why don't we see that?

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Taq
Member
Posts: 10038
Joined: 03-06-2009
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 32 of 36 (565233)
06-15-2010 4:01 PM
Reply to: Message 26 by Jzyehoshua
06-14-2010 6:33 PM


Re: Another gross mistake
I have brought up this same reservation dozens of times on similar forums before, and have yet to receive a solid answer on the subject of why half-lives can't decay faster.
Because it would require changing the fundamental laws of the universe. You might as well ask why Earth's gravity doesn't change from hour to hour. On top of that, the decay rates needed for a young earth would result in enough heat energy to turn the Earth into a molten slag heap.
Perhaps you can tell us why YEC's require the laws of the universe to change drastically just to fit their conclusions?

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Taq
Member
Posts: 10038
Joined: 03-06-2009
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 34 of 36 (565261)
06-15-2010 5:45 PM
Reply to: Message 33 by cavediver
06-15-2010 5:24 PM


Re: Another gross mistake
Simple - nuclear decay rate depends upon the physics of the nucleus, which is governed by the strong and weak nuclear forces. The energy scale of these forces is way above that of electromagnetism, that governs the atomic and chemical interactions. Thus, pressure, temperature, electricity, magnetism, etc cannot affect nuclear decay rates unless these reach the energy scale of the nuclear forces (which can occur in relativistic matter, such as in neutron stars and collapsars heading towards black holes.)
To help put this in perspective for the layman, think of the difference between dynamite and an atomic bomb. In fact, scientists already use TNT as a measuring stick for the explosive force of atomic bombs. A few kg's of uranium in an atomic bomb can yield the equivalent energy of several thousand tons of TNT which is a chemical reaction (and it is also worth mentioning that the yield of an atomic bomb is not 100%).

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