44 Radioactive Decay to Lead Frequently, the quantity of uranium 238 and lead 206 is measured for radiometric determination of the age of rocks. The half life with which uranium 238 decays to form lead 206 is 4.46 billion years. After 4.5 billion years (the alleged age of the earth), at least the same quantity of lead and uranium should therefore be present on the earth’s surface. However, in reality, there is more lead than uranium. It could be assumed that an undetermined quantity of lead 206 formed directly when the rocks originated. Moreover, in addition to uranium 238, 52 other elements also decay to form lead 206. The half life of these elements varies between a few microseconds and 245,500 years. It is therefore not possible to estimate how much of the lead 206 present today actually originated from uranium 238. Various methods are used for radiometric determination of the age of rocks. The principle is always the same. An instable (radioactive) initial material decays to form a different stable element. The subsequent list shows how many other unstable elements also decay to form the same stable element: Calium – Argon Rubidium – Strontium Samarium – Neodym Lutetium – Hafnium Rhenium – Osmium Thorium-232 – Lead 208 Uranium 235 – Lead-207 Uranium 238 – Lead 206
3 other elements also decay to argon 4 “ “ Strontium 13 “ “ Neodym 10 “ “ Hafnium 9 “ “ Osmium 26 “ “ Lead 208 45 “ “ Lead207 52 “ “ Lead 206
Generally, only the decay of uranium 238 is taken into consideration when using the uranium 238/lead 206 method (1). All other elements, which also decay to form lead 206, are ignored. Decay sequence from uranium 238 to lead 206: Uranium 238 decays with a half life of 4.46 billion years to Thorium-234 “ “ 24.1 days to Protactinium-234 “ “ 46.69 hours to Uranium 234 “ “ 245,500 years to Thorium-230 “ “ 75,400 years to Radium-226 “ “ 1,599 years to Radon-222 “ “ 3.82 days to Polonium-218 “ “ 3.04 minutes to Lead 214 “ “ 27 minutes to Bismut 214 “ “ 19.9 minutes to Polonium-210 “ “ 0.16 milliseconds to Lead 206. Lead 206 is stable. Using the model of a young earth, the origin of the radiogenic lead present today can be traced back to the decay of short-lived elements. In the model with a 4.5 billion year old earth, the radiogenic lead can be traced back exclusively to the decay of long-lived elements. Both interpretations are equally speculative. The decay time of short-lived isotopes can be called up on the following internet site: http://nucleardata.nuclear.lu.se/nucleardata/toi/sumframe.htm (specify atom mass and click on “show drawing"). References: (1) Charles W. Lucas JR, Radiohalos – Key Evidence for Origin/Age of the Earth, Proceedings of the Cosmology Conference 2003, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
95 theses against evolution
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ProGenesis