14C Calibration and Correlations

There is very little C-14 to begin with that can be calibrated back to a few 6-10k years based on historical data. I am confused about the half life thing. Can someone please explain what that is? This is confusing.... it is like playing chess - it takes time to learn each pieces have certain moves and all the number of possible moves you can make.

I guess i would have to say the correlation is only as good as your guess assuming the decay rate is a constant.

But somehow people will say " oh but it is constant"!

I am lost right here....

Edited by faith24, : No reason given.

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The quantity of C14 drops by half every 5730 years. We know the approximate amount that a sample started with by the amount in the atmosphere, as shown by the tree-rings.

Every 5730 years that amount drops by half, so we can use that information to estimate the age.

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Oh i see. So C-14 are turning back into nitrogen about half rate, then fourth and so on. Hrmm... So the assumption is based on the amount of C-14 in the atmosphere is the same found in plants/animals.

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All the evidence so far shows that it is.

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I still don't see how it is a constant? How do i determine what is constant and what is not?

Side note: let me read the irc article first.

Edited by faith24, : No reason given.

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Physicists understand radioactive decay very well. They can predict what we would see today if radioactive decay rates varied in the past. Since the physics of atomic nuclei is a very fundamental part of how our universe works, it turns out that there are lots of things we would see today if radioactive decay rates varied in the past. We've looked really hard for those things, and they aren't there. We conclude (we do not assume) that radioactive decay rates have been constant for 13-ish billion years.

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What does the constant decay rate has to do with the age of the earth? What if the decay rate change, then what happen?

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Physicists understand radioactive decay very well. They can predict what we would see today if radioactive decay rates varied in the past. Since the physics of atomic nuclei is a very fundamental part of how our universe works, it turns out that there are lots of things we would see today if radioactive decay rates varied in the past. We've looked really hard for those things, and they aren't there. We conclude (we do not assume) that radioactive decay rates have been constant for 13-ish billion years.

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Whether it is constant or not, that can be debatable. But either way you will have to choose one or the other based on the evidence you believe to go right where it leads you.

Edited by faith24, : No reason given.

Edited by faith24, : No reason given.

Edited by faith24, : No reason given.