Accelerated nuclear decay extinguishes ‘extinct nuclides’ argument

by Dr Russell Humphreys

There are many arguments for an old earth, and one that is widely used is the ‘extinct nuclides’ argument. Notice I use the word ‘argument’ and not ‘measurement’ because we cannot measure age directly. That’s because we can’t travel back into the past to make observations. All ages quoted are based on arguments about evidence observed in the present. They are all based on assumptions and scenarios about the past. When we consider these assumptions and scenarios, we find that the idea of a young earth, one that is consistent with the biblical timescale, is entirely plausible.

Most radioisotopes that we find naturally at the present time are ones with very long half-lives of close to a billion years or longer. Old-earth proponents argue that the short-lived nuclides did exist in the past but they have since become extinct. Their absence, old-earthers claim (based on this assumed scenario), is conclusive evidence that the solar system formed longer ago than the span of these half lives.

Let’s take Aluminum 26 (Al-26) as an example. When produced artificially today, it decays with a half-life of 710,000 years into Magnesium 26 (Mg-26). Mg-26 is stable, comprising about 11% of all the stable Magnesium (the rest being Mg-24 and Mg-25) found in nature today. But Al-26 does not exist in nature today, except as generated by cosmic rays near the surface of bodies in space. Minerals deep within meteorites have been found with evidence of having once contained Al-26.¹ Those minerals contain only the daughter Mg-26, not the other two stable kinds of magnesium, and they look as if they had been locally melted by the heat of Al-26 decay.²

Roger Wiens, Hugh Ross, and other old-earthers argue that early in its history the meteorite contained some Aluminum 26, and that it decayed into Mg-26 slowly over the alleged billions of years since then. Because the Al-26 half-life is short compared to billions of years, it would all be gone today. Hence, they claim, the ‘extinct nuclide’ Al-26 is evidence that the alleged eons actually occurred.

So the concept of ‘extinct nuclides’ is not in itself evidence for large amounts of time, but only for large amounts of nuclear decay. Although I explained this to Drs. Wiens and Ross face-to-face in 2005, they make no mention of this new evidence and explanation in their subsequent publications. It’s as if they do not want to know about it, or have not understood this simple point.

Related articles

• Is the absence of short-lived radionuclides a problem for the Biblical timescale?
• Problem of short-lived radionuclides: design perspective

Related resources

Radioisotopes & Age of the Earth Vol 2

by Dr Eugene F. Chaffin, Dr Andrew A. Snelling and Dr Larry Vardimin

The results of a five year study by RATE scientists answering the questions raised in Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth. Technical Resource. High School, College, Adult. 818 pages

Thousands … Not Billions

by Dr Don DeYoung

Radiometric dating is one of the linchpins of evolutionary education today. Dr Don DeYoung shatters this and other dating methods employed by evolutionists to cast doubt on the reliability of the Bible and its chronology of Earth history. Evolutionists seek to undermine faith in Genesis as the true documentary of the history of the universe. When people are told that a dinosaur bone has been determined to be tens of millions of years old, that obviously doesn’t square with the biblical record of man being created on Day 6 with the land animals. But Dr DeYoung now demonstrates that Christians no longer have to puzzle over this glaring contradiction. (High School–Adult) 250 pages.

Thousands … Not Billions DVD

This compelling documentary summarizes an extensive eight-year research project by a group of scientists known as the RATE Team (Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth). It includes a brief dramatization of the all-too-common experience of a Christian student whose faith is challenged by a secular science professor steeped in evolution. Included in this special edition of Thousands … Not Billions are several useful bonus features, including scientists’ summaries, etc., that can be utilized in many ways, including in the classroom. 48 mins.

References

1. Podosek, F.A. and Swindle, T.D., Extinct radionuclides; in: Meteorites and the Early Solar System, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, 1988, pp. 1093–1113. Return to Text.
2. Bizzarro, M., Baker, J.A., Haack, H. and Lundgaard, K.L., Rapid timescales for accretion and melting of differentiated planetesmals inferred from ²⁶Al - ²⁶Mg chronometry, Astrophysical Journal 632(part2):L41-L44, 2005. Return to Text.
3. Vardiman, L., Snelling, A., and Chaffin, E.F. (eds.), Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, Vol. II, Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA and Creation Research Society, Chino Valley, AZ, 2005. Return to Text.

Published: 2 November 2007(GMT+10)