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Page 7 |
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What is the Source of This "Contamination"?
If we assume that the "contamination" is somehow a product of the counting process, we could than narrow the possibilities down to two :
| Comparison of C-14 Age Samples | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample | Apparent C-14 Age |
Sample | Apparent C-14 Age |
| Machine Background without a sample |
60,000 - 73,000 | Sample Holder Completely Empty 60,000 | >90,000 or no counts in a 30 minute run |
| Unprocessed Finland Bedrock |
63,500 +- 2,000 | Geological Graphite | 69,030 |
| Unprocessed Meteorite |
56,000 +- 1,500 | Geological Graphite prepared slightly less carefully 60,000 | 58,590 - 65,840 |
| Unprocessed Natural Graphite |
54,000 - 64,000 | C-12 from the Faraday cup of the Accelerator | 61,000 |
"Infinite" Age Sample Anthracite, bone, calcite, Graphite, limestone, shell, wood 60,000 |
40,000 - 52,000 | "Infinite" Age Sample Anthracite coal, marble | "up to 52,000" |
| Data taken from R. H. Brown; Implications of C-14 Age Vs Depth Profile CharacteristicsOrigins 15:19-29 (which uses the following paper as its source Radiocarbon 28(2A):177-244) |
Data taken from Scientific Theology by Paul Giem (which uses the following paper as its source Schmidt et al. Nucl Instr and Meth 1987;B29:97-9) |
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Looking at the data to the left, we see the results of two research groups trying to grapple with the source of the contamination. Both groups measure high background counts. Yet, they consistently measure "infinite" age fossil carbon samples only in the 40,000 - 52,000 age range. In addition other sources of carbon do yield ages older than the "infinite" age fossil carbon samples.
Because of the fact that other types of Carbon as well as the background, give counts indicating the presence of much lower levels of C-14 (giving longer ages); We can safely make the point that neither the possibility of sample contamination nor machine background is adequate to explain the source of the C-14 in the "infinite" age fossil carbon samples.
Since the counting process does not seem to be the source of the "contamination", lets assume that the "contamination" is somehow a characteristic of the sample itself. There are three possibilities for the presence of the C-14 in the sample.
To consider a source contamination of all states of fossil carbon (coal, oil and natural gas) we would have to have a worldwide exchange involving at least 50% of the entire Biosphere with all types of fossil carbon to give the level of C-14 that we see in samples. In addition that worldwide exchange would have to be so pervasive that similar levels of C-14 would be present in all type of fossil carbon regardless of the state.
This level of contamination is hard enough to believe with oil and gas, but would be extremely incredible with coal!
In situ formation of C-14 has been ruled out by others in the field. "Subsurface production of radiocarbon is negligible (Zito et al. 1980) (Florkowski et al. 1988)
The only other possibility is the presence of residual activity. Fossil carbon would then have to be quite young. If this result holds up over time, it would mathematically eliminate the whole evolutionary time scale. There would be no possible way for the geologic column to be 60 - 600 million years old.
It must be remembered that this is still not a proof for short age. It is still possible for one of the other sources of contamination that I have eliminated, to still be the cause of having C-14 in "infinite" age fossil carbon. However, at the present time, I believe that the evidence strongly supports the Creation model.
You can be sure that this will be the subject of intense research by various Creation research groups in the future. If and when their research gets reported I will post the specific Journal so you can look up the paper yourself. I am sure that some of them will also be on the web. I will have links to those sites. Come back for any new developments.
Mike Brown
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"Fairbanks Creek Musk Ox", RADIOCARBON, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1970, p. 203.
"Union Pacific Mammoth", RADIOCARBON, Vol. 8, 1966, pp. 172-173.
"Chekrovka mammoth", RADIOCARBON, Vol. 8, 1966, pp. 320-321.
"Ferguson Farm mastodon", RADIOCARBON, Vol. 10, 1968, p. 216.
Brown, R. H., "Implications of C-14 Age vs. Depth Profile Characteristics", Origins 15(1):19-29, 1988
Brown, R. H., "The Upper Limit of C-14", Origins 15(1):39-43, 1988
Brown, R. H., "Re: The Interpretation of C-14 Dates", Origins 7(1):9-11, 1980
Brown, R. H., "The Interpretation of C-14 Dates", Origins 6(1):30-44, 1979
Brown, R. H., "C-14 Age Profiles For Ancient Sediments and Peat Bogs", Origins 2(1):6-18, 1975
Brown, R. H., "Scientific Creationism and Radiocarbon Dating", PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CREATIONISM, Vol. 1, Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1990, pp. 43-55.
Beukens, Roelf P., Debbie M. Gurfinkel and Henry W. Lee. 1986 Progress at the Isotrace Radiocarbon Facility Radiocarbon 28(2A):229-236.
Bonani, Georges, Hans-Jakob Hofmann, Elvezio Morezoni, Marzio Nessi, Martin Suter, and Willy Wolfli. 1986. The ETH/SIN Facility: a status report. Radiocarbon 28(2A):246-255.
Brown, R. M., Hr. R. Andrews, G. C. Ball, Neil Burn, W. G. Davies, Y. Imahori, J. C. D. Milton, and W. Workman. 1983. Recent C-14 measurements with the Chalk River Tandem Accelerator. Radiocarbon 25:701-710.
Zito R., Donahue D.J., Davis S.N., Bentley H.W., Fritz P. 1980 Possible subsurface production of carbon-14. Geophys Res Lett 7(4):235-8
Florkowski T, Morawaka L, Rozanski K. 1988 Natural production of radionuclides in geological formations Nucl Geophys 1988;2:1-14.
Grootes, Pieter M., Minze Stuiver, George W. Farwell, Donald D. Leach, and Fred W. Schmidt. 1986. Radiocarbon dating with the University of Washington Accelerator Mass Spectrometry System. Radiocarbon 28(2A):114-117.
Gurfinkel, D. M. 1987. An assessment of laboratory contamination at the Isotrace Radiocarbon Facility. Radiocarbon 29(3):335-346.
Jull, A. T. D., D. J. Donahue, A. L. Hatheway, T. W. Linick, and L. J. Toolin. 1986.Production of graphite targets by deposition from C0/H2 for precision accelerator C-14 measurements. Radiocarbon 28(2A):191-197.
Nelson, D. E., J. S. Vogel, J. R. Southon, and T. A. Brown. 1986. Accelerator radiocarbon dating at SFU. Radiocarbon 28(2A):215-222.
Vogel, J. S., D. E. Nelson, and J. R. Southon. 1987. C-14 background levels in an Accelerator Mass Sp[ectrometry system. Radiocarbon 29(3):323-333.
Origin By Design by Harold G. Coffin with Robert H. Brown, Pub. 1983 by Review and Herald Publishing Association
Sveinbjornsdottir AE, Heinemeier J, Rud N, Johnsen SJ. 1992. Radiocarbon anomalies observed fro plants growing in Icelandic geothermal waters. Radiocarbon 34(3):696-703.
Riggs AC. 1984. Major carbon-14 deficiency in modern snail shells from southern Nevada springs. Science 224:58-61.
Stuiver M, Braziunas TF. 1993. Modeling atmospheric C-14 influences and C-14 ages of marine samples to 10,000 B.C. Radiocarbon 35:137-189.
Keith ML, Anderson GM. 1963. Radiocarbon dating: fictitious results with mollusk shells. Science 141:634-637
Rubin M, Taylor DW. 1963. Radiocarbon activity of shells from living clams and snails. Science 141:637.
Dye T. 1994. Apparent ages of marine shells: implications for archaeological dating in Hawaii. Radiocarbon 36:51-57.
Origins: Linking Science and Scripture by Ariel A. Roth Pub 1998 by Review and Herald Publishing Association
Scientific Theology by Paul A. L. Giem, Pub. 1997 by La Sierra University Press Riverside, Ca 92515
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Copyright © 1998 - 2008 by Michael Brown all rights reserved Officially posted September 25, 1998 last revised January 1, 2008 |