Difference between revisions of "Fossils"
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== Creation Science View == | == Creation Science View == | ||
Revision as of 02:45, August 18, 2008
Fossils are preserved remains of once-living organisms.[1] They are usually formed when mineral-rich water makes its way into the deceased being's body. The minerals within the water aggregate within the spaces within the body and solidify. Once the organism's tissues have dissolved away, all that is left behind is a rock mold of the creature's shape. The fossil record supports creation science and not the evolutionary view.
Evolutionist View
Scientists often use fossils to evaluate the theory of evolution. They record the species that they find and compare them to living species in order to create a fossil record of life of Earth.[2][3]
Scientists use a process known as radiometric dating to determine the age of the fossils. Radiometric dating is a technique in which scientists observe the amount of an elemental isotope within the fossil, then use the rate at which the isotope is presumed to decay to calculate when the organism died. There are a number of different methods, some of which claim to be able to date a specimen that died up to three billion years ago.[4] Since individual radiometric methods are independent they can be cross-checked with each other to reduce error.
In some fossils "organic matter" has been found. This is often used by creationists to claim that fossils are not very old. The "organic matter" is debatable and inconclusive at present. "Red blood cells" found in a T. rex fossil have not been proven to be red blood cells (The below article is from May 2006 and testing was still going on).
Inside the dinosaur vessels are things Schweitzer diplomatically calls “round microstructures” in the journal article, out of an abundance of scientific caution, but they are red and round, and she and other scientists suspect that they are red blood cells.
Schweitzer has been testing her dinosaur tissue samples for proteins, which are a bit hardier and more readily distinguished from contaminants. Specifically, she’s been looking for collagen, elastin and hemoglobin. [5]
Creationists often use the argument for rapid fossilization but the requirements for rapid fossilization are very specific and unusual in real life. There are a lack of articles in any of the major scientific journals on the matter. Judging from the large number of fossils from different rock layers and rock types around the world it would be unlikely that they all formed from these very specific conditions.
Creation Science View
Many Young Earth Creationists disagree with the idea that fossils could be millions of years old because they believe the Earth to have been created only several thousand years ago. They point to the fact that some dinosaur bones have been found that still contain organic matter as evidence that these creatures were alive only several thousand years ago rather than 65 million years ago. They also point out that sometimes bones can fossilize very quickly if they are in the right place, so even though scientists predict that the process will usually take a very long time, this is not always the case.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ Wile, Dr. Jay L. Exploring Creation With Biology. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1998
- ↑ Geologic Time: "Radiometric time scale"
- ↑ The Virtual Fossil Museum"
- ↑ Georgia Perimeter College - Historical Geology: "Radiometric Dating"
- ↑ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/issues/2006/may/dinosaur.php?page=3
- ↑ Answers in Genesis: "Dinosaur bones—just how old are they really?"
