We are told the radioactive dating methods prove the earth is billions of years old. How do we know the results are accurate? We are always dating things of unknown age. The only way to tell is to date something of known age and judge the results. Recent lava flows in Hawaii were dated at 3 million to 1 billion years old by these methods; depending on where the sample was taken. Also volcanic lava which formed in the crater of Mt. St. Helens since 1980 was dated at 340,000 to 2.8 million years old! Hmmm…. Perhaps these methods aren’t that accurate.
By Dave Nutting
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In an old, old issue of Science (Vol. 192, April 1976) reporting on “Potassium-Argon Ages From the Galapagos Islands” one of the measured ages was listed as 0.72 MY (million years) PLUS OR MINUS 1.1 MY.
One can only conclude that the age was either 1.82 MY or that the measured material would not appear for another .32 MY.
If this was a joke it would be funny; but it is a serious report with no subsequent correction.