Accelerated Decay and the Flood
Today secular scientists attempt to discover the age of the earth by measuring the radiation particles of various mined ores. This measuring process is called radioisotope dating, which concerns processes within the atoms in rocks. Each atom of carbon, for example, has six protons in its nucleus and a number of neutrons, depending if it is Carbon-12, Carbon-13, or Carbon-14. Carbon-12 and Carbon-13 are stable, but Carbon-14 is radioactive, possesses an extra neutron, is often unstable and eventually experiences what is called radioactive decay, which means the atom’s nucleus throws off energy and radiation particles that can be measured.
When fifty percent of the atom’s radioactive neutrons decay away it is called a nuclear (from the word nucleus) half-life. It is almost as if you kept slicing a pie in half, with an even-smaller portion of pie always remaining. Notice the unusual mathematics of accelerated decay; two half-lives do not equal a whole pie. Instead, the passing of two half-lives of time leaves one quarter of the original number of atoms remaining. Another way of saying it is that the number of atoms decaying at any given moment is proportional to the total number of atoms present. The half-life law eventually breaks down as the number of radioactive atoms approaches zero.130
Therefore, the thesis of accelerated decay is millions of years’ worth of radioactive decay, at present rates, that took place very quickly as a result of extreme pressures on the earth during the creation week and the Flood. Creationists believe that there was a burst of nuclear decay during these time periods.131
Today, secular scientists assume that the rate of radioactive decay or the half-life of the atom’s nucleus has remained constant since the earth was formed. Why do they have this assumption? It is because they do not believe in the creation week and the worldwide Flood where accelerated decay took place. This is why secular radioisotope dates are unreliable; however, if the rate of radioactive decay were changed during the rock’s history (similar to a clock that runs either fast or slow), the calculated age of the rock would obviously be incorrect. Today, the evidence for accelerated decay, or the belief that radioactive decay has not remained constant throughout the earth’s history, comes from research in carbon-14 dating, helium diffusion, radiohalos and fission tracks.132
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