It doesn't take a genius to understand that the Earth is very old. But how old is she really, and how do scientists know about her age?
Creationists are still trying to convince that our planet is only 6,000 years old, and that humans have ridden dinosaurs, and the whole story is compressed into these narrow time frames. Moreover, these statements are made without any scientific evidence.
Modern scientists, on the other hand, have many scientifically grounded arguments proving that the Earth is not only older than 6,000 years, but its age is much higher than this figure by hundreds of thousands of times - it is about 4.5 billion years old.
First, let's easily refute the claim that the earth is 6,000 years old.
In Spain, researchers have discovered the world's oldest human feces, which were deposited by Neanderthals 50,000 years ago. We know this from the chemical composition and the fact that the deposits were found in a layer of rock that is 50,000 years old. How do you like this argument?
But the Earth is even older, and the oldest rocks, which are more than 4 billion years old, serve as proof.
According to Space.com:
The oldest rocks on Earth found to date are the Acasta Gneisses in northwestern Canada near the Great Slave Lake, which are 4.03 billion years old. And stony deposits over 3.5 billion years old are found on all continents. Greenland boasts the Isua Crystal Rock (3.7 to 3.8 billion years old), specimens in Western Australia ranging from 3.4 to 3.6 billion years old.
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The oldest known fragment of the earth's crust is about 4,030,000,000 years old.
Australian research teams have discovered the oldest mineral grains on Earth. These tiny zirconium silicate crystals are as old as 4.3 billion years old, making them the oldest materials found on Earth so far. Their original breeds have not yet been found.
The age of these minerals, known as Zircons, was determined using a process called radioisotope dating, which involves the use of a mass spectrometer.
This set of methods allows scientists to figure out the dates when ancient rocks were laid - and therefore provides information about the geological processes, as well as the evolutionary processes that acted on organisms preserved as fossils in alternating layers.
Simply put, scientists measure the amount of radioactive decay in Zircons, which usually contain lead, which used to be uranium. The half-life of uranium is 704 million years.
This means that in 704 million years, one gram of uranium will be reduced to ½ gram of uranium. And in the next 704 million years, it will decay, leaving ¼ a gram, and in the next 704 million years, it will decay, leaving ⅛ a gram, and so on. In this case, the amount of the element into which it decomposes (in this case Lead-207) will increase accordingly …
Why would scientists study meteorites to determine the age of the Earth?
Even the oldest Zircons are not as old as the Earth itself. Everything in our world erodes over time or falls back into the crust. To get a really accurate date of the origin of our planet, scientists must look beyond its borders.
Therefore, they began to find out the age of rocks and minerals found in meteorites and asteroids.
Fragment of an iron meteorite (2.6 g). The total mass of fragments found - more than 30 tons. It fell about 20-40 thousand years ago, a few kilometers from Diablo Canyon, Arizona, USA.
In 1953, Claire Patterson measured the ratios of lead isotopes in samples of a meteorite from Diablo Canyon that crashed into our planet about 20-40 thousand years ago. The result was a refinement of the estimate of the age of the Earth to 4.550 billion years, which is the most accurate age of our planet to date.
But science does not stand still. As dating methods improve and modern technology develops, the age of the Earth may become even more accurate.
