[asa] Review of RATE dates

ASA has an excellent resource which I have not yet seen discussed on
this board.

http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/origins/carbon-kb.htm

An excellent rebuttal
Pim

Summary

  Radioisotope evidence presents significant problems for the young
earth position. Baumgardner and the RATE team are to be commended for
tackling the subject, but their "intrinsic radiocarbon" explanation
does not work. The previously published radiocarbon AMS measurements
can generally be explained by contamination, mostly due to sample
chemistry. The RATE coal samples were probably contaminated in situ.
RATE's processed diamond samples were probably contaminated in the
sample chemistry. The unprocessed diamond samples probably reflect
instrument background. Coal and diamond samples have been measured by
others down to instrument background levels, giving no evidence for
intrinsic radiocarbon.

    While some materials, e.g., coals and carbonates, often do show
radiocarbon contamination that cannot be fully accounted for,
resorting to "intrinsic radiocarbon" raises more questions than it
answers. Why do only some materials show evidence of this intrinsic
radiocarbon? Why does some anthracite and diamond exist with no
measurable intrinsic radiocarbon? Why is its presence in carbonates so
much more variable than in other materials, e.g., wood and graphite?
Why is it often found in bone carbonates but not in collagen from the
same bone? Since intrinsic radiocarbon would be mistakenly interpreted
as AMS process background, why do multi-laboratory intercomparisons
not show a much larger variation than is observed? Why does
unprocessed diamond seem to have less intrinsic radiocarbon than
processed diamond?

    These and many other considerations are inconsistent with the RATE
hypothesis of "intrinsic radiocarbon" but are consistent with
contamination and background. "Intrinsic radiocarbon" is essentially a
"radiocarbon-of-the-gaps" theory. As contamination becomes better
understood, the opportunities to invoke "intrinsic radiocarbon" will
diminish. Most radiocarbon measurements of old materials, including
many of shells and coal, can be accounted for by known contamination
mechanisms, leaving absolutely no evidence for intrinsic radiocarbon.
The evidence falsifies the RATE claim that "all carbon in the earth
contains a detectable and reproducible ... level of 14C" [1].

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Received on Wed Aug 6 01:15:50 2008