Difference between revisions of "Age of the Earth"
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| − | + | The '''age of the Earth''' has been a matter of interest to humans for millennia, and today still causes debate, particularly between [[young Earth Creationism|young-Earth creationists]] who hold to a date of 6,000 years or so, and [[uniformitarianism|uniformitarians]] who hold to a date of about 4,500 million years. | |
| − | == | + | == Increasing ages == |
| − | + | Early Jews and even some "heathens" believed that the total age of the Earth would be around 6,000 years.<ref>Burnet, p. 258.</ref> | |
| − | + | Similarly, people such as St. Barnabas and St. Irenæus held that the Earth would be 6,000 years old.<ref>Burnet, p. 259.</ref> | |
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| − | + | In 1830, Dr. Hales published a list of 120 historical authorities from various cultures who had decided on a [[date of creation]]. These ranged from 6984 B.C. to 3616 B.C.<ref>Batten 2002 quotes from "Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Holy Bible", 1879 8th Edition, 1939, which relates this, and reproduces the selection of the dates from Young.</ref> | |
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| − | + | Included in Hales' list is [[James Ussher]], who calculated the famous date of 4004 B.C. for creation. Young-Earth creationists still consider this date to be close to the actual date. | |
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| − | + | In 1778 George-Louis Lecrerc, Count of Buffon, proposed that the Earth was about 74,832 years old.<ref name="ingv">INGV</ref> | |
| − | + | [[James Hutton]], whilst not proposing a date, dismissed the Biblical account and claimed in 1785 that there was not evidence of a beginning at all.<ref name="ingv" /> | |
| − | + | [[Charles Lyell]] supported Hutton's idea in 1830, in ''Principles of Geology''.<ref name="ingv" /> | |
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| − | + | In 1854 [[Hermann von Helmholtz]] estimated an age of between 20 and 40 million years.<ref name="ingv" /> | |
| − | + | Around the same time [[Lord Kelvin]] put his mind to deriving an age, and came up with a range between 20 million years and 400 million years. He later refined that down to between 20 million and 40 million years.<ref name="ingv" /> | |
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| − | == | + | The 1911 edition of the [[Encyclopedia Britannica]] discussed dates up to 500 million years.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, pp 650-651.</ref> |
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| − | + | By about 1930, J. H. Jeans was arguing for an age of the Earth of around 2,000 million years.<ref>Universal History of the World, p.76.</ref> | |
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| − | + | The currently-proposed age is 4,500 million years, based in part on rocks dated by [[Potassium-argon dating|Potassium-argon (K:Ar) dating]] at about 4,400 million years.<ref>Peck, 2000, p.376.</ref> | |
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| − | + | == Bibliography == | |
| − | + | * Burnet, Thomas, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ste/ste36.htm The Sacred Theory of the Earth, chapter V], 1691. | |
| − | + | * Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition (1911). [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/User:Tim_Starling On-line page facsimiles]. | |
| − | + | * Hammerton, J.A. (Ed.), "Universal History of the World" (8 volumes) The Educational Book Co., London, c1930. | |
| − | + | * Batten, Don, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/417 Old-earth or young-earth belief: Which belief is the recent aberration?], ''Creation'' 24(1):24–27, December 2001. | |
| − | + | * [http://www.ingv.it/~roma/SITOINGLESE/activities/geomagnetismo/analysistheory/historicalresearch/age.html The age of the Earth] (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)). | |
| − | + | *Peck WH, Valley JW, Wilde SA, and Graham CM (2000) Ion microprobe Evidence for Pre-4.4 Ga Continental Crust and Low Temperature Water/Rock Interaction. ''Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr'', vol 32, no. 7. | |
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| − | + | == Notes == | |
| − | + | <references /> | |
| − | + | [[Category:Geology]] | |
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Revision as of 21:35, March 7, 2008
The age of the Earth has been a matter of interest to humans for millennia, and today still causes debate, particularly between young-Earth creationists who hold to a date of 6,000 years or so, and uniformitarians who hold to a date of about 4,500 million years.
Increasing ages
Early Jews and even some "heathens" believed that the total age of the Earth would be around 6,000 years.[1]
Similarly, people such as St. Barnabas and St. Irenæus held that the Earth would be 6,000 years old.[2]
In 1830, Dr. Hales published a list of 120 historical authorities from various cultures who had decided on a date of creation. These ranged from 6984 B.C. to 3616 B.C.[3]
Included in Hales' list is James Ussher, who calculated the famous date of 4004 B.C. for creation. Young-Earth creationists still consider this date to be close to the actual date.
In 1778 George-Louis Lecrerc, Count of Buffon, proposed that the Earth was about 74,832 years old.[4] James Hutton, whilst not proposing a date, dismissed the Biblical account and claimed in 1785 that there was not evidence of a beginning at all.[4] Charles Lyell supported Hutton's idea in 1830, in Principles of Geology.[4]
In 1854 Hermann von Helmholtz estimated an age of between 20 and 40 million years.[4] Around the same time Lord Kelvin put his mind to deriving an age, and came up with a range between 20 million years and 400 million years. He later refined that down to between 20 million and 40 million years.[4]
The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica discussed dates up to 500 million years.[5]
By about 1930, J. H. Jeans was arguing for an age of the Earth of around 2,000 million years.[6]
The currently-proposed age is 4,500 million years, based in part on rocks dated by Potassium-argon (K:Ar) dating at about 4,400 million years.[7]
Bibliography
- Burnet, Thomas, The Sacred Theory of the Earth, chapter V, 1691.
- Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition (1911). On-line page facsimiles.
- Hammerton, J.A. (Ed.), "Universal History of the World" (8 volumes) The Educational Book Co., London, c1930.
- Batten, Don, Old-earth or young-earth belief: Which belief is the recent aberration?, Creation 24(1):24–27, December 2001.
- The age of the Earth (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)).
- Peck WH, Valley JW, Wilde SA, and Graham CM (2000) Ion microprobe Evidence for Pre-4.4 Ga Continental Crust and Low Temperature Water/Rock Interaction. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr, vol 32, no. 7.
Notes
- ↑ Burnet, p. 258.
- ↑ Burnet, p. 259.
- ↑ Batten 2002 quotes from "Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Holy Bible", 1879 8th Edition, 1939, which relates this, and reproduces the selection of the dates from Young.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 INGV
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, pp 650-651.
- ↑ Universal History of the World, p.76.
- ↑ Peck, 2000, p.376.