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Line 62: + − Many people believe that carbon dating has proved that the Earth is millions or billions of years old, much older than the biblically-derived date of around 6,000 years.+ − However, as explained above, carbon dating is incapable of providing dates in the range of millions or billions of years. − − Some also argue that carbon dating should only be used on samples that fall within the range over which it can measure. − However, this begs the question of how one might determine this prior to using carbon dating to determine the age. − They further argue that dating much older items will result in anomalous dates, which might fall within the range that carbon dating can measure. − This is incorrect. Any sample that is older than the range that carbon dating will measure will record zero <sup>14</sup>C, and can therefore not be confused with younger samples.
→Widespread misunderstandings
== Widespread misunderstandings ==
== Widespread misunderstandings ==
Carbon dating is not used to measure beyond thousands of years, despite some claiming that carbon dating is used to date dinosaur fossils and other things claimed to be millions of years old. Even those who understand carbon dating's limits may believe that radioactive carbon "runs out" after a set amount of time.
The maximum age depends upon the sensitivity of the equipment. The amount never drops to zero (ignoring the finite amount of atoms), it just approaches zero as an [asymptote]. If the equipment can accurately measure a concentration of 1/8'th the natural sample, than it can measure items up to three half-lives old. A more sensitive instrument that can detect 1/16'th of normal carbon-14 can date to 4 half lives old.
==See also==
==See also==