Is the Earth really millions of years old?
Age of the Earth:
There is enough evidence to suggest that the Earth is 'young' (1000's of years old), which sheds doubt upon the theory of Evolution.
Why?
Because if Evolution is to be true, then it requires a massive amount of time - billions of years for things to evolve.
Here are some of the things that cast doubt on the universe being very, very old:
1) SHORT- PERIOD COMETS: (eg Halley's comet).
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A 'period' means one complete orbit of the sun, and a 'short-period' means that the comet's orbit takes less than 150 years.
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A comet consists of a ball of ice and other particles, which slowly disintegrates creating it's 'tail'. The closer to the Sun it gets, the more it disintegrates.
Because of this disintegration the British astronomer R. A. Lyttleton has said:
"Probably no short-period comet can survive more than about 10,000 years". [1]
Comets could not survive much longer than 100,000 years, and many have a typical age of 10,000 years. [2]
In our Solar System, the planets, moons and short-period comets, are all thought to be of one system - and astronomers see these being of a similar age.
There has been a suggestion that there could be a belt of ice beyond the orbit of Pluto which provides the 'material' for comets, but this has not been proved.
Therefore one conclusion is, that our Solar System is 1000's of years old and not billions of years old.
2) THE DECAY OF URANIUM & THORIUM:
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As these radio-isotopes decay in the ground, they emit alpha particles (helium-4 nuclei). These particles slow down and they pick up electrons which then form helium-4 atoms, and these move up into the atmosphere.
From the amounts of uranium and thorium in the earth's crust, and the amount of helium-4 in the atmosphere, it can be calculated how long this process has taken.
The result is just over 11,000 years, (again 1000's of years, and not billions of years). [3]
The amount of helium in the atmosphere today, is only about 0.05% of the amount it should have accumulated in 5 billion years. [4]
3) ROTATING GALAXIES:
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Spiral galaxies rotate around their centre.
The inner stars rotate faster than the outer ones, which gives a distinctive swirl shape.
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If a spiral galaxy was more than a few million years old, it would lose it's spiral shape and become a disc of stars. But our galaxy is thought to be 10 billion years old, and Evolutionists call this "the winding-up dilemma".
Therefore the universe is not old enough to give enough time for everything to evolve. [5]
4) ROCK STRATA:
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Evolutionists would date the formation of Cambrian Sawatch sandstone (in the Ute Pass fault, west of Colorado Springs) at 500 million years ago, and that it was extruded up to the surface during the uplift of the Rocky Mountains 70 million years ago.
But there is strong geologic evidence that this sandstone was still unsolidified when it was pushed to the surface.
It is highly unlikely not to solidify in the 430 million years between these events.
It is more probable that these two events were less than 100 years apart. [6]
There is evidence that geological strata was formed rapidly (eg by a massive flood), because:
a) There is a lack of erosion between the layers of rock which are supposedly separated by millions of years.
b) There is a lack of disturbance between the layers of rock. There ought to have been a lot of activity from worms, and roots, etc.
c) There is a lack of soil layers between the layers of rock.
d) At times there are (polystrate) fossils which traverse several rock layers vertically, but these could not have remained upright over many 1000's of years while they slowly got buried. [7]
5) DECAY OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD:
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This decay has been accurately measured for 150 years.
Dr Thomas G. Barnes, (Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Texas (El Paso)) believes that because this decay is relatively rapid, the Earth must be less than 20,000 years old.
D. R. Humphreys explains a theory which includes rapid reversals during the Genesis flood, followed by the surface intensity decreasing and increasing over a period of time, then a steady decay since then. [8]
This theory matches paleomagnetic, historic and present data. [9]
6) STONE AGE SKELETONS:
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Anthropologists who believe in Evolution, reckon that the Stone Age lasted for over 100,000 years, and that the world population was roughly stable at between 1 and 10 million people, (comprising of Neanderthal and Cro-magnon people), and that they buried their dead along with some of their possessions. [10]
So, at least 4 billion bodies would have been buried in that time scale. [11]Most of those 4 billion buried skeletons, and their possessions, should still be in the ground, but only a few thousand have been found.
This casts considerable doubt on the Stone Age period being 100,000 years long.
It is more probable that the Stone Age lasted for only a few hundred years in many areas of the world. [12]
7) COSMIC DUST:
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The discussion about the amount of cosmic dust falling onto the Earth continues, but there is no proof that the calculated, accumulated cosmic dust points to a young or old Earth.
But what is important, is that there is cosmic dust still falling onto the Earth. Any dust in the Solar System is gradually drawn into the sun, so if it was billions of years old, all this dust would surely have disappeared by now. [13]
Again, this points to a young Earth.
8) UNFOSSILIZED DINOSAUR BONES:
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We are told that dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, so any bones that are found should be well and truly fossilized. But red blood cells and hemoglobin have been found in some unfossilized dinosaur bone. These could not survive more than a few 1000 years. [14]
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History web site:
http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/1994Jun/msg00173.html reported:
"... that microscopic examination of a thin slice through the dinosaur bone revealed that although its outer layers were mineralized, the bone itself, brown in color, remained more or less intact in the interior of the marrow cavity. Mary found spherical structures that appear to be nucleated red cells inside the blood vessels running through the bone, "right where you'd expect to find blood, if it's there,..."
Also some interesting comments are found on:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/0325rbcs.asp
which answers some objections from the debate about this find.
To date, there have been four 'mummified' dinosaurs found. They are classified as a "mummy" because of all the soft tissue that has been preserved. Although this actual tissue has been mummified and has been replaced by minerals, some scientists believe that this points to a younger age than if it was fossilised.
A very complete brachylophosaurus has been nicknamed 'Leonardo'.
(See Hillary Mayell's report for National Geographic News October 11, 2002 & visit: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1010_021010_dinomummy.html)
Back to the 'Blinded by unscientific science' menu.
© 2003 seeking-god.co.uk
[1] Mysteries of the Solar System, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1968, p110.
[2] Planets, Comets, & Asteroids, - Design & Origins in Astronomy, G. Mulfinger, ed, Creation Research Society Books, 1983, 5093 Williamsport Dr., Norcross, GA 30092
[3] Why I Believe in Creation, by Dr A.J. White, Evangelical Press,Darlington. p20 ISBN 0 85234 319 1
[4] The Age of the Earth's Atmosphere: A Study of the Helium Flux Through the Atmosphere, L. Vardiman, Institute for Creation Research, 1990, PO Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021.
[5] Physics of the Galaxy & Interstellar Matter, H. Scheffer & H. Elsasser, Springer-Verlag, 1987, Berlin, pp352-353, 401-413.
[6] Tight Folds & Clastic Dikes as Evidence for Rapid Deposition & Deformation of Two Very Thick Stratigraphic Sequences, S. A. Austin & J. D. Morris, Proc. 1st Internat. Conf. on Creationism, Creation Science Fellowship Aug 1986, Pittsburgh, Creation Science Fellowship 1987 362 Ashland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15228, Vol. II, p11-12.
[7] J. Morris, The Young Earth, Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1994). (S.A Austin, editor, Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe. Santee, CA, Institute for Creation Research, 1994.
[8] Reversals of the Earth's Magnetic Field During the Genesis Flood, Proc. 1st Internat. Conf. on Creationism, Aug 1986, Pittsburgh, Creation Science Fellowship 1987 362 Ashland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15228, Vol. II, p113-126.
[9] New Evidence for Extraordinarily Rapid Change of the Geomagnetic Field During a Reversal, R. S. Coe, M. Prevot & P. Camps, Nature 374 20 April 1995, p687-92.
[10] The Human Population, Scientific American, 203 Sept 1960, 194-204
[11] Exploring the Mind of Ice Age Man, A. Marshall, Nat. Geog. 147 Jan 1975, 64-89.
[12] Evidence for a Young Earth, D. Russell Humphreys, Answers in Genesis (UK) PO Box 5262, Leicester, LE2 3XU.
[13] The Earth, the Stars, & the Bible. by Paul Steidl, p60.
[14] "Sensational Dinosaur Blood Report!" by C. Wieland, Creation, 1997, 19(4): p42-43, based on "The Real Jurassic Park", by M. Schweitzer and T. Staedter, Earth, June 1997, p. 55-57.