What is RATE? "Scientists associated with the Institute for Creation Research have finished an eight-year research project known as RATE, or Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth" and they claim that "the team of seven creation scientists have discovered incredible physical evidence that supports what the Bible says about the young age of the earth." {from ICR's homepage for RATE}
You can explore educational web-resources that explain the principles of radiometric dating in the homepage for AGE OF THE EARTH — SCIENCE where you'll see different perspectives (conventional and young-earth) on the reliability of scientific conclusions about the earth's age.
• In an 8-part series during
May-June 2007, Randy Isaac (executive director of ASA) outlined principles
of Integrity
in Science regarding Scientific Methodology, Skepticism in Science,
Fraud, Phases of Science, Removing Unconscious Bias, Nine Lives of Offbeat Ideas,
and Age of the Earth; the final part
explains
why
he "is
concerned
primarily
with the integrity of the reporting of the work [by RATE] rather than
the
claims
themselves"
in Assessing the RATE Project where
he reviews
RATE's
book, Radioisotopes and the Age of the
Earth,
Volume 2. His review (June 2007) was followed (in March 2008) by a response
from RATE and replies by Randy Isaac & Kirk Bertsche. The 4-part
dialog (essay review, response, and replies) is in Perspectives on
Science
and
Christian
Faith, journal
of the
American Scientific Affiliation.
An examination of RATE continues with further analyses and evaluations:
• Helium Diffusion and Retention
in Zircons by Randy Isaac, who describes a Standard Model (used
by scientists to gather clues about the thermal history of a zircon crystal)
and two models proposed by RATE: a New Creation Model (used
by RATE) and Uniformitarian
Model (used
by nobody, since "the [uniformitarian] model has no relationship
to the standard model... [or] any model
used in thermochronology.")
• RATE-Project Claims [about Helium in Zircons] by
Rodney Whitefield
• RATE's Radiocarbon: Intrinsic or Contamination? by Kirk Bertsche (an expansion of his reply in PSCF.
• Polonium Halos and Myrmekite in Pegmatite & Granite by Lorence Collins, who also has a links-page (halos are examined in 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14)
• Flaws in a Young-Earth Cooling Mechanism by
Glenn Morton & George
Murphy
• Review
of a RATE Conference by Steven Smith
I.O.U. — This links-page will offer more resources later, from supporters
and critics of conventional radiometric dating.
| Views in the pages listed above are those of the authors, and don't necessarily represent views of the American Scientific Affiliation. |