Measurable 14C in Fossilized Organic Materials: Confirming the Young Earth Creation-Flood Model | The Institute for Creation Research

 
Measurable 14C in Fossilized Organic Materials: Confirming the Young Earth Creation-Flood Model

Download PDFDownload Measurable 14C in Fossilized Organic Materials: Confirming the Young Earth Creation-Flood Model PDF

by John R. Baumgardner, Ph.D., D. Russell Humphreys, Ph.D., Andrew A. Snelling, Ph.D., and Steven A. Austin, Ph. D.

Presented at the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 4–9, 2003. Published in: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, R. L. Ivey (Ed.), pp. 127–142, 2003.

© 2003 Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Published with permission. All rights reserved.

Abstract

Given the short 14C half-life of 5730 years, organic materials purportedly older than 250,000 years, corresponding to 43.6 half-lives, should contain absolutely no detectable 14C. (One gram of modern carbon contains about 6 × 1010 14C atoms, and 43.6 half-lives should reduce that number by a factor of 7.3 × 10-14.) An astonishing discovery made over the past 20 years is that, almost without exception, when tested by highly sensitive accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) methods, organic samples from every portion of the Phanerozoic record show detectable amounts of 14C! 14C/C ratios from all but the youngest Phanerozoic samples appear to be clustered in the range 0.1–0.5 pmc (percent modern carbon), regardless of geological “age.” A straightforward conclusion that can be drawn from these observations is that all but the very youngest Phanerozoic organic material was buried contemporaneously much less than 250,000 years ago. This is consistent with the biblical account of a global Flood that destroyed most of the air-breathing life on the planet in a single brief cataclysm only a few thousand years ago.

Keywords

Radiocarbon, AMS 14C Analysis, 14C Dead, 14C Background, 14C Contamination, Uniformitarianism, Young Earth, Genesis Flood, Diamond

For Full Text

Please see the Download PDF link above for the entire article.

The Latest
CREATION PODCAST
Glacial Archives: Mysteries Hidden Beneath the Ice | The Creation...
Welcome to the first episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
Arachnid Origin—WGD (What God Did)
Where did spiders (arachnids) come from? What was their origin? Clearly, the fossil record shows spiders have always been spiders1,2 along...

NEWS
Seastar Skeletal Evolution?
The beautiful sea stars (“starfish”), classified as echinoderms, are one of the most easily identifiable marine invertebrates, with their...

NEWS
Nitrogen Networks Negate Naturalism
The element nitrogen is critical in the living world. It is a basic building block of structural and regulatory proteins, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll...

NEWS
March 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:23 NKJV) ICR's March 2025 wallpaper is...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Moonwalker: The Incredible True Story of General Charlie Duke...
What would it be like to walk on the moon? General Charlie Duke is one of the privileged few who can claim to have enjoyed such an awe-inspiring...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Lightning!
by Michael Stamp and Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover...

APOLOGETICS
When Is Dry Desert a Navigable River?
Should a desert’s dryland arroyo that goes a year or more without any rainfall be called a “wetland” or a “navigable river”?1 Consider...

ACTS & FACTS
Sequoia National Park: Giant Trees Exhibit Expert Engineering
Question: What are the biggest trees on planet Earth? Answer: Giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum).1 They grow on west-facing slopes...

ACTS & FACTS
Jesus—There’s Just Something About That Name
A nurse who worked with me would pleasantly call in patients by saying, “Mr._____, it’s checkup time!” Periodic checkups are good....